


Alola, Moon!

by Briana_Dubs



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: I literally only have Gladion and Moon confirmed so far, frickle frackle, i can't just throw ash into this story, i have so many ship ideas, i want to include zringshipping but i can't, it would feel weird, please, send help, seriously help, someone send help, who else should end up together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-30 19:36:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 80,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10170296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Briana_Dubs/pseuds/Briana_Dubs
Summary: So, if you're anything like me, you want to see Moon interacting with the whole Sun and Moon cast, but you're impatient as shit and don't feel like waiting forever for the specials to update. Well, this story is me writing Moon into a High School AU with everyone. Yes, yes, I know, so original.But I just want to see Moon make a whole bunch of friends and realize she has a crush on like all of them, but mostly the Edgelord in her Battle Tactics class.





	1. Enjoy Your Locker Buddy, Nerd

**Author's Note:**

> IF YOU FIND SPELLING MISTAKES PLEASE TELL ME. I GOT SO ANNOYED WITH SPELL CHECK THAT I GAVE UP. IT WON'T LET ME ADD THEIR NAMES TO THE DICTIONARY.

                “Remember, if you need anything you can always call me.” Moon read the text her mother had sent her twice aloud before locking her phone and looking up. Her first day in a new school in a completely different region. Her mother had told her she should be excited. But in all honesty, Moon just wanted to go back to bed and sleep for three more hours. She wasn’t very interested in most of what school had to offer.

                She stood near the wall around the schoolyard and watched students walking in. Occasionally she would pick out some from the crowd, usually because they had some brightly colored hair. She was sure she had seen a girl with bright green hair.

                After pondering whether or not she should just skip her first day, Moon groaned to herself. If she skipped today then tomorrow would just end up being her first day. No use putting off the inevitable. She walked in through the huge double doors and began looking for her locker. She kept double checking her schedule. Locker number 20. It had to be near the front right?

                She stopped once she finally found it. It was blue and wasn’t very big. Were her books really supposed to fit in this thing? There was a boy with black hair opening the locker right next to hers. Moon noticed that his hat was on sideways. It looked kind of stupid.

                He noticed her as she started trying to open her locker. “Alola!” he greeted. She only looked at him expectantly. “Looks like we’re going to be locker buddies! My name’s Sun!”

                She cringed. “Moon.”

                Sun beamed hearing her name. “Wow, Sun and Moon! No wonder we have lockers together! It’s like destiny!” Moon rolled her eyes and finally yanked her locker open. It stuck something horrible. She would have to remember to oil it.

                Sun spoke again. “So, are you new here? I don’t think I’ve seen you around town before!”

                Moon nodded. “Yeah, just moved here.”

                “That’s cool! You’ll like it here in Alola! Everyone’s super nice!” Sun said, that big dopey grin still on his face. His oh so punchable face.

                “I’ll keep that in mind, thanks,” Moon said, putting three of her books into the small locker.

                “So what classes do you have?” Moon groaned. He just wouldn’t stop talking to her would he? She wasn’t in the mood for this. She needed more sleep. She was not a morning person. Instead of using energy to talk, she just handed him her schedule. He looked it over and that stupid grin was back on his face. “Hey we have three classes together! Sweet! We can be study buddies _and_ locker buddies!”

                Moon yawned as she took her schedule back. “What classes do we have together?” she asked, rubbing her eye. Bed sounded so nice to her right now. A nice, soft pillow under her head, warm blankets, and a cute little Meowth to snuggle with. It sounded so, so good.

                “Well, not counting lunch,” Sun started, walking with Moon, “We have first period together, which is English, and then we have fourth period Math together, and then we have PE together!”

                Moon looked at her schedule. PE was her second to last class. At least she would be awake by the time she actually had to do physical activity. English would be tougher. She was sure she would fall asleep during that class at least three times.

                She yawned again and Sun laughed at her. “Not awake yet?” She frowned at him, but didn’t answer.

                Their English room had an entire wall of windows. Moon squinted at them. They were letting in so much sunlight. So much awful, awful sunlight. Maybe she wouldn’t fall asleep in this class after all. There was no way she could sleep if it was always this sunny in here.

                There were already some students in desks. Sun plopped himself into a seat next to a girl with blue hair, and patted the empty desk on the other side of him. “Sit next to me, locker buddy!” he chimed happily at her.

                “Do I have to?” Moon asked, looking at all the other empty desks.

                Sun pouted. “Yes, now come and sit with me, you butt.” Moon sat with a groan. The blue haired girl laughed beside Sun. Moon shot her a confused look.

                “What’s so funny over there?” she asked.

                The blue haired girl smiled at her. “You are,” she replied. She had a very soft voice. Moon had to strain to hear her properly. “My name’s Lana.”

                “I’m Sun!”

                “Moon.”

                Lana nodded. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” She gave them a scrutinizing look before asking, “Are you related or something?” Moon and Sun looked at each other in confusion. They didn’t see a resemblance. “I only ask because of your names,” Lana clarified.

                “Oh,” Sun grinned at her, “Nah, we’re not related! But we have lockers right next to each other! So I think we were destined to meet!”

                “I think our parents were just really lazy with names and we happened to cross paths,” Moon grumbled. Lana laughed again.

                A pale girl with long, icy blonde hair sat down in the desk on the other side of Moon. Moon looked at her with a bit of a frown. She was wearing nothing but white. Wouldn’t that get dirty?

                “Alola,” the girl greeted, “My name is Lillie.” She offered Moon her hand. That certainly was a more formal greeting than she got from Sun.

                “Moon,” she replied, shaking Lillie’s hand.

                It was a nice calm, peaceful meeting, but of course Sun had to go and ruin it. He leaned over, patting his hands on Moon’s desk excitedly. “Hiya, my name’s Sun! I really like your dress!” Moon leaned back as far away from him as she could get.

                “Alola Sun, my name’s Lillie. It’s nice to meet you.” She offered him a handshake as well. “And thank you. I like this dress too. It’s one of my favorites.”

                “It suits you!”

                Lana greeted Lillie after that, apparently they both already knew each other. Sun asked how they knew each other. When they said school Moon wasn’t even a little surprised. They were interrupted when the Professor started talking from the front of the room. He introduced himself and had the whole class go through one of those get-to-know-you activities. The class had also asked Moon and Sun if they were related. Moon had a feeling they would be getting that question in every class they had together.

                The professor had them all say one thing about themselves that maybe not everyone knew. Moon had said she had just moved there from Kanto. Sun had been so excited. “You never told me you were from Kanto! That’s where I’m originally from!”

                Moon had only looked at him and yawned. When it was Lana’s turn she said she had two younger sisters that were twins. Lillie said she had an older brother. And Sun said he had three part time jobs. Moon didn’t really believe him, but she was still too tired to interrogate him.

                They didn’t really do very much in class that day. The professor gave them their syllabus and told them they would be reading a book of poems for their first assignment. But the class wasn’t much other than introductions. It went by fairly quickly and Moon was thankful for that.

                She walked out of the room with her three new ‘friends’ and looked at her schedule. Second class was Pokemon Breeding 106. She frowned at the paper.

                “Oh, you and I have Breeding together,” Lana said beside her, “I can walk you there. The room it’s in is hard to find on your own.”

                Lillie was looking over her other shoulder. “Looks like I’ll be in your third and fourth classes, Moon,” she said with a sweet smile, “Let’s try to sit together again for them.”

                “All right,” Moon said with disinterest. She followed after Lana, acknowledged the goodbyes from Sun and Lillie, and tucked her schedule into her pocket.

                When the two girls reached the room, Moon realized Lana was right about it being hard to find. She would have totally missed it without her help. It was tucked back inside a sort of hallway that looked like it used to be a storage closet connecting to the room.

                “This class will most likely be introductions again,” Lana said, “I know the professor. He usually does a big circle where we all say our names and say what our goals are.”

                “Sounds tedious,” Moon said, following the shorter, blue haired girl into the room. Immediately Moon saw the girl with green hair she had seen first thing that morning. She knew she hadn’t been seeing things.

                The girl noticed them and immediately bounced over, excitement radiating off of her. “Lana! I was hoping we’d be in this class together! This is gonna be a good year! Kiawe’s in this class with us too!”

                Lana smiled. “That’s wonderful!”

                The green haired girl looked at Moon. “So, who’s your new friend?”

                “This is Moon,” Lana said, motioning to her with her hand, “Moon, this is my friend Mallow.”

                Mallow beamed at her. “It’s really nice to meet you Moon!”

                “You too,” Moon replied. She sure was meeting an awful lot of people today.

                Mallow seemed to notice something behind her and quickly waved. “Kiawe! Alola!”

                Moon turned, as did Lana, and saw a tall, dark skinned boy with hair that looked like fire. Moon stared at him. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. Just a pair of red shorts and a strange necklace. Did people normally do that in Alola? Was there no dress code saying you need to wear a shirt? Well, actually, she wasn’t going to complain. Now that she got a good look at him, she realized that this Kiawe guy was fucking _ripped_! She was staring at the very obvious six-pack he had, not even trying to be modest.

                She looked up at his face once he was in front of the three of them. He smiled at them. His smile seemed warm and inviting. “Alola you two,” he said. His voice was really deep. Moon had to wonder if he was actually in their grade level. He was so much taller than they were and with a voice and body like that he seemed so much older. He looked at Moon. “And Alola to you. I’m Kiawe, and you are?”

                “I’m Moon,” she answered. “What grade are you in?”

                Mallow and Lana both laughed next to Moon. Kiawe sighed, but still smiled anyway. Moon looked at the two girls.

                “Everyone who meets Kiawe always asks him stuff like that,” Mallow explained, “Nobody ever thinks he’s as young as he is.”

                “He’s only one grade level ahead of us,” Lana said, “He’s just in classes with us because he got held back last semester when he took dance abroad.”

                Moon blinked and looked back at the taller boy. She noted that he had red tufts of hair interspersed with his black hair, but they also looked like fire. Were his eyebrows multi-colored? He didn’t exactly look like the type of person she would have expected to study dance.

                “I want to be a professional fire dancer,” he said, putting one hand on his hip, “It’s been my dream for a long time.”

                “Ohh.” That made sense. With hair like that, fire dancing seemed like something that would suit him.

                He looked like he was about to say something else, but a man with spiky dark brown hair called the class over to a big open area in the room. Moon guessed pretty fast that this was their professor.

                Lana had been absolutely right about the circle thing. He had them all sit on the floor and go around introducing themselves. Moon listened to everyone say what their goals and ambitions were. When she was asked hers, she had said she wasn’t entirely sure but she was really interested in studying medicine.

                Moon was a little disappointed when the professor said he was giving them an assignment. Seeming to notice the slouch to her shoulders, Mallow patted her on the back.

                “Don’t worry, it’s usually not anything too big this early in the year,” she said. Turned out she was right. The professor just wanted them to bring in pictures of a type of Pokemon that had two different forms depending on the gender it was. Easy peasy.

                Once class was over, Moon walked out with the three friends. Mallow asked her what class she had next. “Uh, Home Ec, I think.”

                “Oh, cool, I’m in that class next too! Room 220?” Moon nodded and Mallow continued, “Sweet! We can be cooking buddies!”

                Kiawe smiled from beside them. “You’re lucky you’ve got Mallow with you,” he said. Moon gave him a confused look. “Her family owns a restaurant. She’s a really good cook.”

                “Well at least I won’t have to worry about failing any assignments,” Moon commented. Before she could say anything more, Mallow grabbed her wrist and began dragging her to class with her. The two of them said goodbye to Lana and Kiawe and Moon had to jog to keep from falling as Mallow tugged her along.

                The room for Home Ec was half full of desks and half full of little kitchen areas. There were four oven stove combos and lots of counterspace. Moon only saw one big refrigerator though. Mallow went and happily greeted the professor and Moon continued looking around the room. She set her bag down on one of the desks near the front and looked at the whiteboard. ‘Sit anywhere you like! There are no assigned seats!’ it read.

                “Alola!” Moon was startled when someone greeted her. She turned around and saw a tan boy wearing bright orange shorts and a black shirt. He had dark green hair that was tied up into a very soft looking ponytail and orange clips in his hair that matched his shorts.

                He had a big friendly smile on his face. He seemed to glow with friendliness. He felt really approachable. “A-alola,” Moon said, turning all the way to face him properly.

                “I like your fruit bag,” he said, pointing to the one she had just set on the desk, “It makes me hungry.” An odd reason to like a bag, but okay. “The name’s Hau! What’s yours?”

                “Moon,” she answered, “And, um, thanks I think?”

                He put his arms behind his head and kept right on smiling. “You new to Alola?” Moon nodded. “Cool! I gotta show you around some time! I can take you to all the best Malasada shops in town!”

                Mallow had walked over to the two of them. “What’s a Malasada?” Moon asked.

                Hau flinched and smacked one of his hands over his heart. “No! Say it isn’t so! You’ve never even _heard_ of Malasadas?!” She shook her head no and Hau crumbled forward, gripping the edge of the desk next to Moon. “Tapu Koko, please forgive this horrible sin. I will correct this error as soon as possible!”

                Mallow rolled her eyes with a smile. “Oh, Hau, stop being so dramatic. She’s from Kanto, they don’t do Malasadas over there.”

                He jumped back up, eyes blazing and stomping one foot forward. “Well this is just an outrage! Malasadas are the most delicious food there is! Everyone should know about them!” Moon looked at Mallow, who simply shook her head. “I’m definitely taking you to a Malasada shop as soon as possible! Are you free after school tonight?”

                He grabbed her hand and looked up at her. She could see him bouncing. “Uhh, I think so?”

                “Great!” Hau pumped a fist in the air, “Then at the end of the day, wait for me by the front entrance! Don’t forget okay!?” He waggled his finger in her face as he said the last bit.

                Mallow put her hands on Moon’s shoulders. “She won’t forget Hau, now if you’ll stop yelling at us about Malasadas, I would like to talk to my friend now.” Hau gave her a thumbs up and returned to the pose where he had his arms behind his head.

                Mallow looked at Moon then, letting go of her. “So, Moon, what do you think of the school so far? I never got to ask you before.”

                Moon looked over at the professor, who was on his phone, and asked, “Is he not gonna do an introduction thing?”

                “Nah, he’s pretty chill,” Mallow said.

                “Hmm…” Moon frowned, but turned back to the green haired girl. “I like it here so far. Everyone’s really friendly though.”

                “Is that a bad thing?” It was Hau who asked, so Moon looked at him.

                “I mean, it kind of is. I’m not much of a morning person, so having all these people coming up and trying to talk to me is exhausting,” she said, “I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to remember half of what happened this morning by lunch.”

                Hau pouted. “Well you better not forget about our Malasada date!” Mallow rolled her eyes again.

                This guy… He had even more energy than Sun did. Moon wondered if they knew each other or if they were friends. She wasn’t sure she wanted to ask, though. She didn’t need two energy bombs in her life at the same time. What if Hau invited Sun out with them after school? Moon wouldn’t be able to handle all their excitement.

                “So, you got any siblings?” Hau asked, ever cheerful and friendly, “I ask cuz I don’t got none! I’m an only child!”

                Moon shook her head. “No, I’m an only child too.”

                “That’s cool!”

                Right after Hau said that, the door to the room flew open. Everyone turned to look. Lillie was standing there, gasping and panting. Hau squeaked and waved excitedly, bouncing on his toes. “Alola Lillie! Took you long enough to get here!”

                Lillie walked over to them and collapsed on the desk for a moment. “I went to the wrong room!” she whined, “That was so stupid! I only realized I was in the wrong class when I saw Kiawe walk in!”

                Mallow and Hau both chuckled at Lillie’s whining. Moon only looked at the girl. Even looking as tired as she did, Lillie still looked very clean and put together. Moon admired her for that.

                The little group stood and talked together until the period ended. Lillie and Hau were in Moon’s math class with her, and if Moon remembered correctly, so was Sun. Moon hoped she would get to sit next to Lillie. She was much quieter than the two boys.

                When the three of them got there, sure enough, Sun was waiting with that big dopey grin on his face. Still looked super punchable.

                “Hey hey hey!” He greeted them, “You guys in a class together?”

                Hau rushed up to high five him. Moon was right, they were friends. Honestly, they were so similar it made a lot of sense for them to be. “Yeah, we’ve got Home Ec together with Mallow!”

                “Nice!” Sun hummed, “You guys won’t have to worry about passing that class, then!”

                The four of them walked into the room and settled themselves into a row of desks. A boy with sort orange hair was sitting in front of Moon. Hau greeted him as “Sophocles”. And Moon thought her name was dumb.

                Sophocles turned to Hau and looked at their group. “You and your friends better not cheat off my tests this year, Hau,” he said.

                Moon would have been offended by a comment like that, but Hau only laughed. “You bet we will!” Sophocles groaned and turned back around. Hau looked at Moon. “That’s Sophocles! He’s our resident boy genius! If you ever need help with an assignment you can just cheat off his homework!”

                Sophocles started yelling at Hau for that. Moon eventually tuned them out. Their math professor actually gave them a real assignment and Moon wanted to die. They had a worksheet he wanted done by the next day. Turns out the professor was named Molayne and he and Sophocles were buddies. Moon wondered if that meant he was giving him extra help. Maybe the boy genius thing was all a ruse. She didn’t like when the smartest person in a class was friends with the teacher. It just made her suspicious.

                “Ahh, I can’t wait for lunch!” Hau whined at one point, slumping forward onto his desk.

                Lillie smiled over at him. “It’s only one period away, Hau. I’m sure you can wait a little longer.”

                Hau pouted. “No, I can’t! I’m gonna starve!” Sun laughed at that and Lillie shook her head with a fond smile. Moon felt kind of out of place with them. They all obviously knew each other pretty well. She had only just met everyone today.

                Moon was thankful when class got out and their little group was able to head to lunch. If everyone wasn’t so friendly, she might have been surprised when they invited her to sit with them. Their table was absolutely overflowing with people. Sun, Hau, Lana, Lillie, Mallow, Sophocles, Kiawe, some guy with pink hair that Moon had yet to meet, and Moon.

                The boy with pink hair smiled warmly at Moon once they were all seated. “Hello there.”

                “Uh, Alola?” Moon replied. She was a little startled by this boy. He was so pretty! He had such a soft face and such pretty hair. And he was wearing such a nice outfit. He looked so polished and put together. He seemed like he was royalty.

                Kiawe smiled between them. “This is my friend Ilima. He’s a grade ahead of you, Moon, so you probably won’t have any classes with him.”

                “Oh, so Moon is your name? Well it’s lovely to meet you,” Ilima said, closing his eyes, tilting his head, and smiling. Moon felt the urge to clutch at her chest. So cute!

                “Y-you too,” she said. Moon turned to look at Hau and Lillie, who were both talking about something that she hadn’t quite heard.

                “No, Hau, he wouldn’t ditch classes! He does care about graduating, you know!” Lillie said with a pout on her face. Moon wanted to clutch her chest again. Why were all of her new friends so adorable? It wasn’t natural! The only ones who weren’t so cute it hurt were Sun and Kiawe!

                Hau frowned and swallowed his food before talking back. “Well if he’s not ditching, then where is he?”

                Lillie deflated. “I don’t know,” she confessed, “He’s supposed to have lunch with us… But he’s not here.”

                “Sounds like ditching to me,” Sun commented. Hau nodded and kept eating his lunch.

                Moon looked at them all. “Who are you talking about?”

                “My brother,” Lillie groaned, “He was supposed to have lunch with us. He even promised me that he would come and sit with me, but the big jerk isn’t here!”

                Hau turned to Moon. “He hardly ever comes to lunch with us,” he said, “You’ll probably only see him if you have classes with him, Moon.”

                “Why?”

                Sun shrugged and Hau answered, “That’s just how he is. If it’s not worth his time he does something else.”

                Lillie reached her hand over toward Moon. “Well, let me see your schedule again Moon, you might have a class with him.” Moon passed it to her without a word. Lillie scanned it over and smiled. “Hey, you’ve got two classes with him! PE and Advanced Battle Tactics!”

                Ilima perked up from across the table. “What period do you have Battle Tactics?”

                “Uh, last one of the day, I think,” Moon replied, looking at Lillie, who was still looking at her schedule.

                “So do you have PE right before that?” Moon nodded at Ilima’s question. His adorable smile came back. “I’m in both of those classes with you! Looks like we will have some classes together!”

                Moon smiled. “I’m in them as well,” Kiawe said, “I’m surprised you’re in Advanced Battle Tactics, Moon. Usually you have to be in our grade level to get into that class.”

                “Yeah? Well, it might be because in Kanto we had to take at least two battling classes a semester,” Moon said, taking a sip of the orange juice she bought, “Guess it put me ahead.”

                “Guess so,” Kiawe hummed.

                “Moon!” Lillie’s voice caught her attention. Moon gave her a quizzical look and waited. “When you see my brother in PE, you tell him I’m not happy that he skipped lunch!”

                Moon laughed. “How will I know which one he is?” she asked.

                “Oh, trust me, you’ll know,” Mallow commented, “He’s the one that looks exactly like Lillie but taller and angrier.” Lana, Sun, and Hau each nodded in agreement with her.

                Lillie pouted. “We do not look that much alike, you guys!”

                “Lil, you could be twins if he wasn’t so much taller than you,” Sun said. The pale girl clearly didn’t agree, but she turned back to her food anyway.

                “Can I have my schedule back?” Moon finally asked. Lillie jumped and went bright pink, apologizing profusely as she handed the paper back to Moon. “So just look for tall, angry, boy Lillie. Got it.”

                Her sixth period class was an art related class. Turns out Ilima was shadowing the professor for that class. So she technically had three classes with him. Sophocles was in the class with her too, as was Lana. The three of them sat together and talked about whatever they felt like. Lana kept making really bad jokes, which Sophocles laughed at but Moon grimaced at. The class wasn’t very serious on the first day, so Ilima walked over and chatted with them for the time being.

                “Looking forward to PE?” he asked Moon. Moon shrugged. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it won’t be too bad. It’s only day one. We’ll probably just walk around the track.”

                “Is Kiawe going to be shirtless for that class too?” Moon asked. She saw both Lana and Sophocles laugh at her question, so she looked at them. “What?”

                Lana shook her head, still laughing too hard to answer. But Sophocles spoke. “He’s always shirtless,” he said.

                “Why? Isn’t there a dress code?”

                Ilima sighed beside her. Sophocles continued to talk, though. “Yeah, and the teachers tried to make him follow it. But they gave up on that years ago. He basically never wears a shirt unless he absolutely has no choice.”

                Moon stared at him. “Well, I mean I’m not complaining… He’s definitely nice to look at, but I just… why?” Her comment sent Lana into another fit of laughter. Sophocles and Ilima laughed too, but not as much as the small blue girl.

                “No one really knows,” Sophocles said, “He just really seems to hate them.”

                “He says it’s because they restrict his movements when he’s dancing,” Ilima said, “But if you ask me, I think he’s just really sensitive to fabrics and doesn’t like how it feels.”

                “So you’re saying he has sensitive nipples,” Moon clarified. Now Lana was wheezing she was laughing so hard. She actually slid off her chair. Moon looked at her in confusion. Had what she said really been that funny? Sophocles and Ilima were both laughing just as hard as she was, though, so apparently it must have been.

                The rest of class went on like that. Moon would say something that would have the others hiccupping with laughter, and she wouldn’t understand why.

                Moon was glad she had brought a change of clothes for PE. They gave them all a second locker for their supplies. Made sense to do so, in Moon’s opinion. What if it rained and your normal shoes were all muddy? You would probably want something else for class.

                She didn’t see any girls she knew in her class once she was in the gymnasium. Apparently everyone she knew in her PE class were guys. Ilima, Kiawe, Sun, Hau, and then Lillie’s brother, wherever he was. She walked over to the little group they had made.

                Once again, Kiawe was without a shirt. He had changed his shorts, but that was it. Moon figured she would have to get used to seeing him topless all the time.

                They were all just chatting for a while before Hau suddenly perked up. He bounced on his feet and waved excitedly. “Gladion! There you are, buddy!”

                Moon turned her head to look at who he was waving at. It was pretty easy to figure out when she saw a pale blond boy grimacing and walking towards them. He was wearing a black shirt and black shorts, but red sneakers. As he got closer, Moon understood what Mallow had meant before. He looked almost exactly like Lillie. He had messy bangs hanging in front of one of his eyes, but the one she could see was the same color as Lillie’s lime green eyes. And once he was with the group, even when his grimace was gone, he still had an annoyed look on his face. Tall, angry Lillie described him pretty well.

                He stood in front of them with his arms crossed over his chest. “You don’t need to be so loud,” he grumbled, “I saw you when I walked in.”

                Hau put his arms behind his head again and grinned. “Still your usual ray of sunshine self, eh, Gladdy?” Gladion didn’t reply, his scowl just hardened. “Lil’s pissed at you for skipping lunch again, bud.”

                Gladion rolled his eyes. “I was busy.”

                “On the first day?” Ilima asked, “What could you have been busy with?”

                “I was reading.” He seemed to notice Moon, and turned his steely gaze on her. “Who are you?” was all he asked.

                Sun jumped forward and answered for her. Moon scowled at him for it. “This is Moon! She and I are locker buddies! Isn’t it cool? Sun and Moon! We’re gonna be best friends, don’t you think Gladion?!”

                The taller blond boy only frowned again. “Is your name really Moon?” She nodded and he rolled his eyes with a scoff.

                Ilima had been right about class. They were just told to walk around the track for today. Their group walked together. It was actually a bigger group than Moon had originally thought. They took up basically the entire track as they walked.

                Hau and Sun were shouting excitedly about all sorts of different things and Moon found herself scooting closer to Lillie’s brother. He was a lot quieter than those two. In fact, so far he hadn’t said a word since their greetings. She liked that better than all the yelling. She was definitely thankful the two of them weren’t both in her earlier morning classes. She would have developed migraines within minutes.

                Kiawe was demonstrating some sort of moves to Ilima, which Moon watched without shame. She liked seeing his muscles flex and ripple with everything he did. Man, he was hot.

                “So are you excited for Advanced Battling?” Sun asked her with his usual dopey smile.

                Moon shrugged. “I guess. Not really sure what to expect… Wait, you’re not in that class with me, why do you care?”

                Sun beamed at her. “Can’t I just ask my new best friend a question about her classes?”

                Hau jumped on Sun with an incredibly exaggerated sad face and a loud whine. “Sun! I thought _we_ were best friends!”

                “We still are!” Sun said, turning and taking Hau’s hands, “We’re the bestest friends ever! Nobody will ever replace you, Hau!” The green haired boy quickly hugged Sun and began carrying him like that as he walked.

                Moon smiled. Sun didn’t seem to mind at all. He let Hau waddle along with him in his arms for a good long while before he asked to be put down.

                “Enjoy being carried?” She asked.

                Sun nodded. “It’s nice to be carried around for a little while! You should try letting Kiawe carry you some time! He could probably carry you above his head for eighteen miles!”

                “Now that’s a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think?” Kiawe asked, an embarrassed smile on his face.

                “Nah, he’s probably right.” Moon was startled that the one who said it was Gladion. The rest of them looked at the blond boy as he continued. “She’s so puny, you probably could carry her across the entire island.”

                Moon frowned and looked at herself. “Puny?” she mumbled.

                Moon had honestly forgotten about Hau inviting her to go get Malasadas. She had confessed that to herself when he reminded her. She was embarrassed when she admitted it.

                “Well it’s a good thing I reminded you, then!” he said, pointing at her, “You better not forget by the time your last class gets over! We’re going to get Malasadas and that’s that!”

                Sun was pouting next to Hau. “So you invited her to get Malsadas but not me?”

                “You can come too, Sun!” Hau said, grinning at him, “The more the merrier!”

                Moon slumped forward with a groan. “I’m going to be deaf by the time we get there…”

                “You’ll get used to it eventually,” Gladion said from her right, “They’re always like this.”

                “How do you deal with it all?” Moon asked, her face pulled down in a painful looking frown, “I’m barely holding it together right now! They have so much energy!”

                Gladion shrugged, tucking his hands into the pockets of his shorts. “I just tune them out.”

                “But what if they say something important?”

                He shrugged again. “They’ll repeat themselves if it’s really that important.”

                “I heard that, you Edgelord!” Hau snipped. “You saying you really ignore me every time I talk?”

                “Not every time,” Gladion said, “Just most of the time.”

                Sun, Kiawe, and Ilima all laughed, but Hau huffed and puffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest before sticking his tongue out at Gladion.

                “Real mature, Hau,” Sun teased.

                Hau spun around to gawk at Sun. “You’re supposed to be on my side, Sun!” Sun laughed, and Hau pouted at him. “Fine!” Hau grabbed Moon by her arm and held on tight. “Looks like Moon’s my new best friend!”

                “Please don’t touch me,” Moon said, yanking her arm away from him, “I like my personal space.”

                Hau apologized quickly, bowing his head. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know!” She assured him it was okay and just asked that he try not to let it happen again.

                The professor let them all leave a little early so they could change in time for their last classes. Moon looked at all the girls in the locker room. She didn’t know any of them. It felt weird to think she was only friends with a bunch of guys in her class.

                Moon was happy to find Kiawe and Ilima when she got out of the locker room. She hurried over to the two of them and they began the walk to Battle Tactics. Gladion caught up to them halfway there, and Ilima began asking him if he was looking forward to the class. Moon looked at Kiawe.

                “You’ll like Battle tactics,” he said, “We’re allowed to bring our own Pokemon to use in class and we do lots of double and multi-battles.”

                “That sounds cool,” she said, “We almost never did double battles back in Kanto. The teachers I had liked to make us practice the more traditional battle styles.”

                “Well that sounds boring,” Gladion commented. Apparently he had been listening to their conversation.

                Moon nodded. “It was sometimes. We all got so used to each other’s Pokemon and battle styles that it kind of became a little bit routine.”

                “Couldn’t you make the class interesting?” Ilima asked, “I always try to make sure I’m enjoying my battles.”

                Moon shrugged. “I mean, we tried. We all wanted to get stronger and win the battles, but we weren’t allowed to use our own Pokemon so it wasn’t as urgent.”

                The four of them made it to the classroom and Moon was surprised by how much it looked like a Dojo. The floors were padded and so were the walls, but it was styled like buildings back home in Kanto.

                A girl with a big baggy shirt was talking with the professor when they got inside. Ilima seemed to know her, because he walked right over to say hello. Moon noticed when she turned around that she had a huge streak of pink paint across her face.

                Ilima turned to the group with a big smile. “Looks like Mina’s shadowing Professor Nanu for this class!” Moon looked at the professor. He had grey hair and looked bored out of his mind.

                Mina looked at Moon. “Hello,” she said, voice quiet and a little raspy, “I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”

                “Yeah, I just moved here. My name’s Moon.”

                Mina had a tired look to her face. Even when she smiled she looked ready to pass out. “Nice to meet you, Moon. You have a very pretty face. I’d love to paint you sometime.”

                Moon blinked and looked confused. Ilima spoke. “Mina’s an artist,” he said, “Her work is really beautiful. You should consider yourself lucky! Mina hardly ever wants a human as a model!”

                “Have you ever painted people before?” Moon asked after that.

                Mina nodded. “I’ve painted Ilima and Kiawe a couple of times,” she looked at the blond boy next to Moon and frowned, “And I’ve asked Gladion here at least three times to let me paint him.”

                “Every time you’ve asked I’ve been busy,” Gladion said, hands on his hips.

                “Lillie let me paint her,” Mina countered, “She set up a date when she was free and we worked out a schedule. You just don’t want me to paint you.”

                Professor Nanu interrupted their argument, calling the class to attention. He sounded bored as he explained how their class would go throughout the year.

                “What we will be doing first is double battles. I’m going to assign you a partner for the first week and I want to see the two of you training together outside of class. If you haven’t improved by the second battle, I’ll know you’ve been slacking.” He gave the class a stern frown. “Bonds with Pokemon are important, yes, but so are bonds with people. If you and your partner can’t learn to work together, how can you expect to work with new Pokemon?”

                A girl with purple hair raised her hand, but Nanu waved her off. “People can talk about their problems and work them out. Pokemon can’t. If you’re not communicating with a person, there’s no chance you can communicate well with a Pokemon. Now, when I call your name and your partner’s name, I want you to stand next to each other so I can be sure everyone’s here.”

                “You already picked our partners?” Kiawe asked.

                Nanu nodded. “I took the class roster and randomized pairs. It works fine, because if someone’s not here, then we’ll have Mina join them as their partner.”

                “All right, so let’s start.”

                Nanu picked up a clipboard and flipped one paper over the top. “Acerola and Ilima, you’re pair one.” He waited for Ilima and the purple haired girl to move next to each other. Moon looked at them. Pink and purple. How cute. “Okay, um, next we have Kyle and Hapu.” Hapu was an incredibly short girl with big poofy looking braids of black hair. Moon had to wonder how old she was. “Next we have… Kiawe and Sina.” Moon looked at the girl Kiawe was paired with. She was wearing pink sunglasses. Indoors. Why did she need to wear them indoors? Were those not against the dress code? Moon listened to Nanu name off more people. One boy named Dexio also had sunglasses on, but his were blue. Why were they wearing sunglasses inside? It made no sense.

                “Gladion and… Moon…? What kind of a name is Moon?” Nanu saying her name had caught Moon’s attention and she frowned when he made that rude comment. Nanu looked at Gladion. Neither of them had moved, they were already standing next to each other. “Well? Aren’t you gonna stand with your partner, boy?”

                Gladion pointed his thumb at Moon. “This is her.”

                Nanu stared at Moon blankly before nodding his head and continuing to call out names. Nobody was alone, so nobody got Mina as their partner. “Good,” Nanu said, “Now that you’ve all got your partners, you can go. I’m done with class for today.”

                Moon was a little bit startled to hear him say that. The purple haired girl, Acerola, spoke up. “Uncle Nanu, you’re not supposed to let us out before three! Those are the rules!” Uncle Nanu?

                “Yeah, well what are they gonna do? Fire me? I’m not even on the payroll, I just needed something to do with my free time,” he looked at the rest of the class, “You all can leave if you want. Or stay. I don’t really care.”

                Moon expected Gladin would leave the first chance he got, but instead he just waltzed over to one of the walls and slid down to sit. She went and sat next to him.

                “You’re not leaving?” she asked, genuinely curious.

                “Can’t leave without Lillie,” he replied, “We ride home together.”

                “Oh,” Moon said, “That makes sense.”

                “What about you?” Gladion looked at her, resting his head on one of his fists and propping it up with his elbow. “Not leaving either?”

                “Well, Hau invited me to get Malasadas, remember? I’m pretty sure if I skipped out on him he’d never let me hear the end of it.”

                Moon saw Gladion smile a little bit. “You’re correct on that one,” he said, “He wouldn’t let it go until you finally went with him.”

                “You speaking from personal experience?”

                He chuckled, closing his eyes. “That obvious, huh?”

                “Hau’s pretty predictable,” Moon said. “But he seems nice, so I guess I can’t really complain.”

                Ilima and Kiawe came and sat with the two of them. “Can’t complain about what?” the pink haired boy asked.

                “Hau.”

                “Oh, I’m sure you could complain about him,” Ilima said, smiling, “Or at the very least tease him. It’s so fun to watch him get all riled up.” Ilima had pulled one hand up close to his face as he seemed to think about it. “Like an adorable little Pidgey getting its feathers ruffled.”

                Moon smiled as she pictured that. It did sound cute, but she wasn’t sure she would describe Hau as a Pidgey.

                “So what Pokemon do you have?” Gladion asked Moon, still resting his head on his fist.

                “Rowlet,” Moon replied, “And I caught an Abra back home before I came here… And I guess our Meowth counts, though she really belongs to my mom.”

                “Ooh, so it’s a Kanto Meowth?” Kiawe asked. Moon nodded. “What’s a Kanto Marowak look like?”

                “Uh, like a bigger Cubone?” Moon wasn’t sure what he meant. What did Alolan Marowak look like?

                Kiawe frowned. “Aw, so they’re not fire types?”

                “No?” Moon was really confused now. “Alolan Marowak are fire types?”

                Kiawe nodded. “They’re my best partners! They’re fantastic fire dancers!”

                “Kiawe also has a Turtonator and a Growlithe,” Ilima said, “He’s a fire type expert.”

                Moon looked at him. “Well, I could kind of guess that just looking at your hair.”

                “What’s wrong with my hair?” Kiawe asked, reaching up to touch it. He looked mildly hurt.

                “It looks like a fucking fire on your head, ya dumbass,” Gladion answered. Kiawe frowned, crossing his arms, and Moon and Ilima laughed.

                “Well, anyway, how about you Ilima?” Moon asked, “What Pokemon do you have?”

                Ilima beamed at her. “My favorite Pokemon is my Smeargle! He and I work so well together! We paint signs and fix damaged fences! And aside from Smeargle I have my Yungoos, which is absolutely precious.”

                Moon smiled, feeling that tightness in her chest again that made her want to hold her heart. Why was he so fucking adorable?

                She forced herself to look away. “Okay, so how about you Gladion?”

                Gladion waved his free hand in a circular motion as he answered her. “I have my Type:Null and a Zubat right now.”

                “What’s a Type:Nul?” Moon asked, “Is that a Pokemon you can only get in the Alola region?”

                Gladion looked away. “No, it’s mine. You can’t just go out and catch one.”

                “Oh…”

                Ilima patted Moon on the shoulder. “Don’t worry too much, Moon. I’ve seen his Pokemon. It’s very interesting, but I’m not sure it would suit you.”

                Moon didn’t really understand, but she didn’t really feel like questioning it. Hopefully Gladion’s Pokemon and her Rowlet would get along. If they were going to be partners for a week they needed to fight as little as possible.

                “When’s the first battle for this class supposed to be?” she asked, looking at Ilima. He seemed the most knowledgeable of the group. She assumed he would know before the others would.

                “Probably tomorrow,” he said, “Nanu’s going to want to see how we work together and then tell us what we need to work on with our partners.”

                “Oh, cool.” Moon looked at Gladion, but he wasn’t paying attention. She had a feeling he was tuning them out like he said he did with Hau.

                Speaking of Hau, class was technically over now and Moon had a Malasada date with him and Sun. “So nobody wants to go with me?” she asked, looking at the guys, “Nobody wants to save me the torture of spending time with the two of them alone?” They were walking through the halls now.

                Ilima laughed and patted her on the back. “You’ll be fine! Hau and Sun are fun to be around!”

                Moon looked away with a grimace. “But they’re so loud…”

                Ilima leaned down and whispered in Moon’s ear, “You haven’t heard loud until you’ve seen Kiawe performing one of his dances. That boy’s got some _serious_ lungs.”

                When he leaned back, Moon stood there blinking at the fire expert. Kiawe didn’t seem to notice, though, he was waving to Mallow and Lana. Moon wanted to say something to Ilima, but she was interrupted when a pair of hands clamped down on her wrist. She turned her head and felt her stomach turn seeing Hau was the one holding her arm.

                “Ready?” he asked. Before Moon could even answer he started sprinting toward the front doors, dragging poor Moon along with him. They caught Sun at his Locker and Hau grabbed him by his shirt collar and yanked him along as well. Moon could hear Hau chanting “Malasada” over and over again. It was kind of terrifying.

                He didn’t let either of them go until they reached a building with a pink awning and a cute logo. “Here we are!” he announced, letting go of the two of them. Sun hopped up right next to him, but Moon fell over. He had stopped moving so fast that her body hadn’t caught up.

                Hau turned and looked over his shoulder. “You okay Moon?”

                “Peachy,” she replied, pushing herself off the ground.

                “Great! Let’s go get some Malasadas then!” And Moon was being yanked inside before she could even brush the dirt off her shorts.


	2. Friends?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

                Malasadas were actually pretty good, Moon decided. She liked the bitter ones the best. Sun had looked horrified when she had said it was her favorite.

                “Hey, come on now, Sun,” Hau said, patting him on the back, “I love a nice bitter Malasada every now and then too!”

                “Yeah, but you’ve never said bitter ones were your favorite!” Sun pouted at Moon. “You’re just like Gladion!”

                Moon looked confused, but Sun wouldn't answer, he just snatched up the sweet Malasada that she didn’t eat and started shoving it into his mouth. Hau spoke instead. “Gladion said bitter ones were his favorites too,” he explained, “Sun hasn’t forgiven him for it to this day.”

                “Well at least I like them, right?” Moon asked, frowning at Sun.

                “If you said you didn’t like them then I would know you’re not human,” Hau said, smiling and munching on his own sweet treat. “Sweet ones are just Sun’s favorite and he wants everyone else to feel the same.”

                “Not everyone is going to feel the same way you do,” Moon said to the boy wearing his stupid sideways hat. He only pouted at her and took an even bigger bite out of the Malasada.

                Hau smiled at them. “So how was Battle Tactics?”

                Moon turned and looked at him. “Oh, it was fine.”

                “You’ve got Nanu as your teacher, right?” Moon nodded at his question. Hau smiled again. “Isn’t he a hoot?”

                “Hoot?” Moon didn’t really understand. Nanu had seemed kinda grouchy when she met him. “I guess?”

                “Did he have you guys do anything?”

                “Yeah,” Moon answered, “He assigned us battle partners. He’s gonna want us to battle and then train together to see if we can improve and work together better. Ilima’s pretty sure we’ll start battling tomorrow.”

                Sun turned his head to look at her. He spoke around a mouthful of Malasada and asked, “Who’d you get stuck with?”

                “Gladion,” Moon answered, “Though I was kind of hoping I would get Kiawe if I’m honest.”

                “Why Kiawe?” Hau asked.

                Moon looked him in the eye and felt unnerved. She had a feeling Hau and Sun wouldn’t react like Lana, Sophocles and Ilima had. She had a feeling they would tease her until she died. So instead of straight up saying she thought Kiawe was hot, she said, “He’s nice. And he said something about an Alolan Marowak and I kinda wanted to get a chance to see that up close.”

                Hau grinned. “You’ll get to see it when you battle him!” He pumped a fist in the air, “Don’t tell Kiawe, but I’m hoping you kick his ass!”

                Moon and Sun both laughed at that. “I won’t say a word,” Moon assured him with a smile.

                “So how you feelin’ about working with the Edgelord, though?” Sun asked.

                “Edgelord?” She blinked at him a couple of times for a moment before she understood. “Oh, Gladion, right. Duh.”

                Her green haired friend snatched up another pastry and said, “Like our nickname we gave him? I think it suits him perfectly.”

                “I just didn’t know who you meant at first” she said, “But, nah, I’m not worried or anything if that’s what you’re asking Sun.”

                Sun smiled. “You should be worried,” he said, “Dude’s super serious when it comes to classes. _Especially_ battling. If you mess up and make him lose I wouldn’t be surprised if he tore you to pieces in front of the whole class.”

                Now Moon pouted. She had just been about to bite into her treat, but hearing that stopped her. He didn’t seem like that type of person when she had been talking to him. Sure, Gladion seemed cranky and serious, but he didn’t seem like he was heartless.

                “Why would you think he’d yell at me?” She bit her Malasada after asking.

                “Cuz that’s what he did to me when we got paired up in a festival,” Sun answered. Hau nodded next to him, as if to confirm that actually happened. “My Litten tripped up his stupid dog thing and it ended up hurting itself. He was super pissed. Lillie had to convince him to give me a break and he only did after like three weeks went by.”

                “Well then I guess Rowlet and I will have to be careful not to make the same mistake…”

                Moon had started on her homework the minute she got back home. Her mom had greeted her, Moon had answered back, and then plopped down on her couch. She wanted to get the math out of the way since it was an actual assignment. She was still angry with Molayne for assigning it.

                It hadn’t taken as long as she had thought though. As she sat there scribbling down answers, Meowth came over and nuzzled her thigh. She scratched behind her ears and continued right on working.

                Her mother came into the living space and looked at what she was doing. “Did you really get homework on your first day?” she asked, sounding surprised.

                “Yeh,” Moon answered, “I have this, a picture thing, and then my English professor recommended we start trying to read our first book. It’s not too bad, it’s just annoying.”

                Her mom nodded and sat next to her with a smile. “So did you make any new friends?”

                “Mmhmm,” Moon hummed, not pausing in her writing, “A ton. Like, I think there’s at least eight of them.”

                “Really?” her mom sounded surprised, so Moon stopped and looked at her.

                “What, is it that hard to believe I made friends?”

                Her mother laughed, waving her hand, “No, no, I’m just surprised by how many there are! That’s quite a lot!”

                Moon frowned and began counting on her fingers. Sun, Lillie, Lana, Hau, Gladion, Kiawe, Ilima, Mallow, Sophocles… did Mina count? She guessed Mina must have counted. “Okay, so there’s actually ten,” she said, looking back up at her mom.

                “Really? Wow, that’s certainly something!”

                Moon smiled. “Everyone here is really friendly. Too friendly in some cases, but it does mean I’m not lonely during any of my classes. I have at least two of them in every single class I have. Usually it’s more than two, though.”

                Her mom looked so proud. “That’s wonderful honey! What are some of their names? What are they like?” Moon started listing them off, describing who was a girl, who was a boy, who was tall, who was short, who was older, who was the same age as her, who was related which turned out to literally only be Lillie and Gladion, and she told her about how almost all of them were adorable.

                “Like, mom, they’re all so precious I want to snuggle them and keep them safe from the world!”

                “Goodness, sounds like you’ve got a bit of a maternal streak in you after all!” her mom chuckled at the idea of her tiny daughter protecting anyone.

                Moon smiled and went ahead and finished her math homework. She found pictures comparing male and female Magikarp and printed those out for Breeding. She figured most people would immediately think of something like Pikachu, but she wanted to do something that not every other person in the class was doing. And since most people got annoyed with Magikarp pretty fast, she decided that was a safe bet.

                She started flipping through the poem book for English, but got bored with it pretty fast. She could read that at school if she got bored. Right now she decided she wanted to go for a walk. She called out her Rowlet and let her mom know she would be back soon.

                During her walk she almost ran into a man with a Popplio, but stopped herself before impact. He turned around and smiled down at her, greeting her as “cousin”.

                “Alola,” Moon replied.

                He smiled brightly and introduced himself. “Name’s Kukui! You wouldn’t happen to be a student at the school up the street would you?”

                “I-I am,” she answered. It seemed a weird question to ask.

                “Thought I recognized you!” he said, “I’m a professor there!” Moon frowned. She didn’t have him as a teacher, how did he know her? “I teach Battle Tactics!”

                “Oh, well now I know why I don’t know you,” Moon muttered.

                Kukui laughed. “Yeah, I’ve got the same room as Nanu, just not the same time of day. I left something in there though and I saw you leaving with Kiawe and Ilima! Those two were a couple of my favorite students when they were in my class!” He grinned down at her, putting his hands on his hips. Moon tried not to think about the fact that even though he had a lab-coat on he was shirtless. It was really uncomfortable. “You’ll have a great class! Those two have some real spirit! They’ll be a big challenge for you!”

                Moon smiled. “I hope so. I like a good challenge!”

                “That’s the spirit!”

                After their brief talk, they went their separate ways and Moon decided she may as well head back home. She probably should try and get a good night’s sleep so she wouldn’t be as tired tomorrow morning……………

                Didn’t work. Moon was yawning even worse as she walked into the school the next day. She put her forehead against her locker and yawned again before even trying to enter her combination.

                She heard a voice next to her, though, and turned her head. Thankfully it wasn’t Sun yet. It was Lillie and Gladion. Lillie was smiling sweetly at her and Moon felt her mood perk up a little bit seeing it.

                “Alola!” Lillie greeted, bending forward to look Moon in the face.

                Moon smiled and stood up straight, but yawned again. She rubbed her watery eyes as she answered. “Alola to you too.”

                “Didn’t sleep well?” Lillie asked. Moon saw her grab Gladion’s arm as he tried to walk away and kept him firmly by her side.

                Moon shook her head, still rubbing her eye. “No, I slept fine. I’m just not much of a morning person… Didn’t I tell you that yesterday?”

                “No, you didn’t,” Lillie said.

                “Must’ve been Hau or somebody then,” Moon mumbled, turning and yanking her locker open. It stuck again. Right… She forgot about that. She needed to oil it.

                “There’s no way I’m gonna remember that,” she groaned, taking her books.

                Lillie smiled at her as she closed her locker. “Gladion told me you two are partners in Advanced Battle Tactics!” Moon looked at her and nodded. “That should be exciting! Don’t you think?” She had turned and looked up at her brother, who currently was yawning.

                “What?” he asked, looking at her, “Sorry, I wasn’t listening.”

                Lillie pouted at him and scolded him for not paying attention. He only yawned again. She huffed and let go of his arm to put both her hands on her hips. “You two!” she sighed, “I need Hau or Sun to get here pronto! I can’t stand being around a couple of night owls!”

                Moon gave her a sleepy smile. “Sorry Lils,” she said, “But being full of energy this early in the morning just isn’t in me. If I tried, I’m pretty sure I’d die.”

                Lillie rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic,” she said, giving Moon a pat on the top of her head.

                The sleepier of the two girls only rolled her shoulders and started walking to English. Lillie hurried after her, saying a quick goodbye to Gladion and telling him he had better show up to lunch today “or else” and asked Moon why she was in such a hurry.

                “I’d like to prolong talking to Sun as long as possible,” she said, “I’m too tired to deal with Sunshine Bomb number two…”

                “Who’s Sunshine Bomb number one?” Moon gave Lillie a look and the blonde laughed. “Oh, Hau, right? That makes sense. But didn’t you meet Sun first? Why wouldn’t he be number one?”

                Moon grinned. “Because that way if he ever finds out about his nickname he can always know he’s not number one.”

                “Moon, that’s kinda mean.”

                “I’m kinda mean sometimes,” Moon said with a shrug. Lillie made a face at her that was somewhat close to a grimace, but didn’t say anything.

                When Sun got to the room he of course greeted the two of them much too loudly for Moon’s tastes. She cringed as he said her name.

                “Hi Sunshine Bomb,” Lillie greeted. Of course Lillie was going to start this already. Of course she was. Moon shouldn’t have been surprised.

                “Sunshine Bomb?” Sun repeated, confused. Moon could see his stupidly punchable face from where she had her head resting on her desk. “Where’d that come from?” Lillie motioned to Moon, and Moon wished she were laying in her bed more now than ever before. The grin on his face was so big and so dumb looking. “Aww, you gave me a nickname already? That’s so sweet! I knew we were gonna be best buds!”

                Moon held up a finger. “Correction,” she said, “You’re Sunshine Bomb number two.” She turned her one finger into two and smirked up at Sun. “Hau’s Sunshine Bomb one.”

                And Sun reacted exactly how Moon thought he would. He threw a fit. “What?! Whaddyou mean Hau’s number one!? You and I met each other first! Why is he number one and not me?! That’s not fair! I wanna be number one! Lillie, tell her to make me number one!” Lillie only laughed and shrugged her shoulders. Lana came in and Sun quickly rounded on her. “Lana, tell her to change me to number one!” He pointed at Moon, his lower lip wobbling fiercely.

                Lana looked at Moon and noticed the devilish smirk on her face. A gleam seemed to appear in her eyes as she said, “Moon… Make him number three.”

                Moon couldn’t help but to laugh hard and loud at that, smacking her desk. She ended up wheezing when Sun started wailing “Noooooo!!!!” What a way to start the day.

                “Lana!” Sun whined, “You don’t even know what we were talking about!”

                Lana sat down in her desk and looked at Sun. “You’re right. I’m sorry… Moon?” Moon looked at her, wiping a tear from her eye, and Lana said, “Make him number six.” Moon choked she laughed so hard. Sun had completely collapsed on his desk, sobbing pathetically.

                “This is so not fair,” he whined.

                Moon was happy for the rest of class. She had to wonder if Sun would tell Hau about this. Probably not. He didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of his best friend.

                When she was in Pokemon Breeding, Moon found she had been right. Five kids in her class had chosen Pikachu. Kiaw had chosen Torchic, which kind of surprised Moon. She looked at the pictures he had and frowned.

                “I don’t see any difference,” she said.

                He pointed at the rear view photo of the tiny birds. “The male ones have a black spot right by their tales! See?”

                Moon squinted close to the paper. “No.”

                Lana and Mallow laughed and patted Kiawe on the back when he seemed to deflate at her comment.

                “Oh, Kiawe,” Moon said, suddenly remembering yesterday, “I ran into Professor Kukui last night.”

                Kiawe smiled. “Yeah? What’d he say? Somethnig about fighting spirit, right?”

                “Y-yeah, actually,” Moon stammered. How did he know that? “He told me that you and Ilima were two of his favorite students in his Battle Tactics class.”

                The fire expert smiled again. Such a warm smile. Moon wanted to squish his face.

                The class went by pretty quickly. Their professor spent the whole time talking to them about gender differences. It was a nice class. Moon wasn’t as tired as she had thought she would be.

                “See you two at lunch!” Kiawe said as he walked off with Lana after class. Moon waved goodbye and then followed Mallow to their Home Ec.

                When they got there, Hau was already waiting with Lillie. As soon as she saw him, Mallow suddenly perked up. “Oh, I totally forgot! How was your Malasada date, Moon? Did you enjoy them?”

                Hau bounced over to them at the word Malasada. Moon smiled. “Yeah, actually I did,” she said.

                “Which kind was your favorite?” Mallow asked, “I like the spicy ones best!”

                Moon looked at Hau before she answered. “I actually really like the bitter ones.” Both Mallow and Lillie made faces at that and made the same noise. “Bleck!”

                “Gross!” Lillie said, “You and my brother need to have your heads examined! The bitter ones are disgusting!” Hau laughed at that, and Moon pouted.

                “Seriously, what’s wrong with you two?” Mallow asked, looking at Moon in disbelief, “I figured Gladion was just a rare case cuz he’s weird, but you?”

                Moon frowned now. “Geeze, you guys, I’m not some sort of freakshow! I just don’t really like sweets all that much!”

                They didn’t get to argue about the sweet pastries for long. The professor called them to attention. He was having them watch videos about nutrition. Moon found herself really really bored really really quickly. She would rather go back to arguing about Malasada preferences.

                Math was almost completely uneventful. Molayne took their homework and started their lessons right away and nobody really talked all that much. Hau would occasionally peak at whatever notes Sophocles was taking, but it wasn’t much.

                Moon was thankful for lunch. Her little table of friends had two new additions now. Mina and Acerola had come to join them. Now their table really was overflowing.

                Lillie was looking around with a frown on her face. Moon was sitting next to her on the end and she had a pretty good idea why Lillie looked so distressed.

                “I swear!” the blonde girl huffed, “If he skips again I’m gonna-!”

                “I’m here.” Lillie stopped in her ranting at the sound of her brother’s voice. Moon turned her head to the right to look up at him. Lillie beamed up at him and quickly scooched over, puling Moon with her, so he could sit down next to them. So on one side of the table sat Gladion, Moon, Lillie, Sun, Hau and Lana. And on the other side sat Ilima, Kiawe, Mina, Acerola, Sophocles, and Mallow. What a big bunch.

                Moon saw Gladion pull out a book as he ate. She didn’t even question it. She just turned her head when Mina said her name.

                “So when can I paint you?” she asked, that same sleepy look on her face, “I’m free this weekend if you’d like.”

                “Oh, I completely forgot about that,” Moon confessed with a sheepish grin, “Sure, this weekend works for me. When and where would we meet up?”

                Mina smiled. “I have a small studio space that I’m renting out. I’ll give you the address. How about we meet for three hours on Saturday and then another three on Sunday? I’ll need time to make sure it turns out exactly how I want.”

                Ilima was gushing excitedly next to her as she gave Moon the address. “You have to let come in and see while you’re working on it! I want to see how you light her and how you dress her up!”

                “Dress me up?” Moon looked at him confused.

                “Mina likes to pick outfits that complement the person she’s painting,” Ilima explained. “I’m sure she’ll put you in something nice!”

                Acerola spoke up at that point. “Maybe she’ll put you something dark and spooky looking!”

                Mallow pouted at her. “Spooky things only suit _you_ , Ace. That wouldn’t look good on Moon!” the green haired girl smiled at Moon, “I think she’d look good in something a nice shade of red!”

                Hau looked at Sun. “Why is this such a big deal?” he asked his friend. Sun only shrugged his shoulders.

                “I dunno, girls are weird…”

                Moon walked with Lana, Sophocles, and Ilima to their art class after lunch. The unit they were starting was abstract art. They were looking at slideshows of specific artists and learning about their styles. At one point Sophocles whispered to Moon, “These all look like they just dumped paint all over the place and called it art…”

                “Don’t let Ilima hear you say that,” Lana whispered back, “He’ll have your head on a stick!”

                Moon giggled. “I don’t think I can ever picture Ilima as even a little bit intimidating, Lana. His hair looks like a soft pink cloud. How can someone with hair that pretty be mean?”

                Lana didn’t really argue. She just laughed and they continued watching the projector.

                When Moon went to PE she was kind of hoping it would be another day of walking around the track. But, no, their professor had them all sitting on the bleachers to talk to the class. “Our first unit is going to be the swimming unit!” he announced. Moon heard quite a few students groan at that. “Think of it this way,” he continued, “You’ll be getting it out of the way and you won’t have to worry about it for the rest of the year once it’s over!”

                Sun elbowed Moon with a grin on his face. “Ey, so that means I get to see you in a bikini, eh Moony?”

                Moon scowled at him. “Not on your life, Number Two,” she snarled.

                Instantly Sun started whining. “Noo! Now it’s just number two!? No, Moon you can’t do this to me! This is just wrong!”

                “What’s he all worked up about?” Kiawe asked. Moon could see all of her guy friends looking at her, so she figured she had no way out.

                “I gave Sun a nickname this morning and I don’t think he really appreciates it,” she said, as smirk slowly spreading across her face. Sun was whining about it not being fair.

                “What was it?”

                “I’m glad you asked, Hau!” Moon said with a sickeningly sweet lilt to her voice. “I’ve been calling you Sunshine Bomb Number One and him Sunshine Bomb Number Two! But now I think I’m just going to shorten it to Number Two!”

                “Noooooooooooo!!!!!!!!” Sun was wailing, kicking his legs and waving his arms, “I can’t be number two!! I met you first!!!”

                Kiawe, Ilima, and Hau each laughed. Gladion was smirking. “I’m _so_ using that.”

                Sun looked like he melted into a puddle. “Nooooooo!!!! Now look what you’ve done, Moon! You gave the Edgelord ammo to use against me!”

                Hau beamed at her. “So I’m Number One?”

                “You’re still gonna be Sunshine Bomb,” Moon corrected, “You’re definitely Sunshine Bomb.”

                He put his arms behind his head. “Cool! I’ve never had a nickname beside Malasada Boy before!”

                “And this is why you’re Sunshine Bomb.”

                After the professor made sure everyone knew where to go for the swimming unit and made sure everyone had the sheet reminding them to bring their swimsuits, he let them all walk around and do whatever they wanted in the gymnasium. Moon asked Kiawe if he could show her some of his dance moves.

                Kiawe laughed, but stood up from the bleachers. “Got any requests?” he asked.

                Hau and Sun were both shouting at him to twerk, but he ignored them. Moon eventually decided she just wanted to see him freestyle. And it was a wonderful excuse to see him work all those muscles. It was quite the show.

                When he was finished, their little group, as well as quite a few of the female students, applauded for him.

                “I take it your favorite unit is the dance unit?” Moon asked, smiling at him.

                He sat back down, slightly winded but not entirely out of breath, and nodded with a smile.

                “What else would be his favorite?” Ilima teased. “Everyone always wants to be paired with him during the dancing unit. He always makes their group look good.”

                Moon smiled. She could understand that.

                “Usually there’s a big fight about it among the girls,” Gladion said, “It gets pretty ugly.”

                “So Kiawe usually just dances with one of us,” Hau finished, smiling, “Last year he picked me! He did that thing where you get to spin around really fast and then he caught me!” Moon smiled. Hau was so happy about it. “I thought I was gonna puke after that!” Sunshine Bomb was a fitting name for him.

                “I _did_ puke,” Sun said, “It was awful.”

                Moon ‘tsked’ at him and wagged a finger back and forth. “Not even happy about it? This is why you’re number two…” Sun began whining again, and the group was all laughs again. She was surprised by how well she was fitting in on only the second day. She felt like a real part of the group. It was nice.

                “You guys have fun at Battle Tactics,” Sun said to Moon, Ilima, Kiawe and Gladion, as he and Hau started walking off to their own class.

                Hau winked at Moon. “Remember what I said Moon! Don’t you let me down!”

                She laughed. “I’m sorry, what was it again? I don’t know if I recall!” She cherished the horrified look that passed over his face for a second before she winked back and gave him a thumbs up. She walked with the three guys.

                “What did he say?” Ilima asked, looking very curious.

                Moon put a finger to her lips and smiled. “Sorry, but that would be confidential information.” Ilima pouted at her.

                Nanu had everyone stand with their partners at the start of class. He said he wanted to make it easier to call them forward for their battles. But they had to go outside for the battles anyway, so the groups ended up getting mixed together anyhow.

                Moon was able to find Gladion easy enough though once they were outside. His hair was incredibly easy to spot. Not as easy as Ilima’s head of pink, but still really easy to find.

                Once everyone was all organized, Nanu looked over each pair. “All right, why don’t we start with Kiawe and Sina…” he waited for the two of them to step forward.

                “Watch him say us,” Moon whispered. Gladion only glanced at her before looking back at Nanu.

                The grey haired man looked over the groups again. “And uh… Gladion and Moon, how ‘bout you two?”

                “Called it.” Oh well. Moon wasn’t going to complain. This could be her chance to make Hau proud and beat Kiawe. That is, until she remembered Kiawe was a fire type expert and her main Pokemon was a grass type. Shit.

                Gladion seemed to notice her distress. “Just use your Abra first,” he said, “Let me handle Kiawe’s fire types.”

                Kiawe and Sina called forth their Pokemon first. Kaiwe called out his Marowak and Sina called out a Delibird. Gladion called out Type:Null. Moon was surprised by how massive the Pokemon was. Now she knew why Ilima had said it wouldn’t suit her. She sent out her Abra and hoped the battle would go well.

                “For now it’s just going to be one Pokemon per person,” Nanu said, “I just want to see how each of you works together.”

                Mina stepped forward. “And begin! Kiawe, Sina, you have the first move!”

                “Marowak, flamethrower on Abra!” Kiawe wasn’t wasting any time.

                Moon clenched her fist. “Protect, Abra!” She was thankful she had Abra learn a few TMs. Just having it know Teleport wasn’t good if she was ever in trouble.

                While Abra shielded itself from the flames, Gladion ordered Type:Null to use headbutt on Marowak. The huge beast charged forward and slammed its big metal head into the smaller purple Pokemon.

                Delibird used a Metronome which turned into a Swift. Abra was still protecting itself, so it didn’t get hit, but the bright yellow stars hammered Tpe:Null. Gladion snarled at that.

                “Abra, Psychic!”

                “Counter it, Marowak!”

                Moon’s Abra has aimed its beam at the Delibird, but Kiawe’s Marowak tossed a flaming bone in its path, sending the psychic waves spinning off in all different directions.

                “Now hit it with BoneClub!”

                Marowak dove and caught the bone it had previously thrown at Abra and smacked the smaller psychic type to the ground. Gladion had Type:Null attack the Delibird with X-Scissor. It was a direct hit. Sina’s Delibird fell down and flinched severely.

                Marowak hit Type:Null with another BoneClub. “Use Pursuit!” Gladion ordered.

                Type:Null hit Marowak square in the abdomen and Marowak was out for the count. It had fainted. Moon wanted to comment on that, but Delibird had used another Metronome. Sina was taking advantage of the distraction. This one turned into a High Jump Kick.

                “Abra, protect Type:Null!” she shouted to her psychic mouse. The little creature nodded and hopped up, quickly making a barrier around the two Pokemon. The kick hit and bounced off the shield.

                “Null, finish this!” Gladion shouted. The instant the barrier disappeared his Pokemon rammed into Delibird and the little ice type fainted.

                Nanu smiled. Mina held up a hand. “And the first match of the day goes to Gladion and Moon!”

                Moon felt exhilarated. She felt ready to take on ten more opponents. She could take them all. She was sure of it. She hugged her Abra happily and thanked it for fighting so hard.

                Kiawe was grinning at them, even as he returned his unconscious Pokemon to its ball. “You two were great! That was a good battle! Smart using a Dark type move on Marowak, Gladion!”

                Moon frowned. She had wanted to ask about that. But before she could, Nanu stepped forward. “That was definitely a good way to start off the year,” he said. “Kiawe, Sina, you two need to work on your timing. Taking advantage of your partner’s failure was smart, but you should have acted faster.” The two of them nodded. He turned to Moon and Gladion after that. “You, boy, need to remember that your partner is working with you,” he said, frowning, “Your partner made sure to protect your Pokemon from a move that would have been a one-hit KO, but you acted like she wasn’t even there. Acknowledge your teammate.”

                Gladion nodded without a word and they all walked over to the sidelines. Ilima congratulated the two of them on their win.

                “Thanks,” Moon said, smiling, “But why was using a Dark type move on Marowak a good idea? I thought it was a fire type in Alola…”

                “It is,” Ilima said, “But it’s also a ghost type.” Moon nodded, understanding now.

                She turned to look at Gladion as the second battle went on. He had been watching until he seemed to notice her looking at him. He scowled. “What do you want?”

                “Just wondering when you wanted to train together so we can improve for next time,” she said.

                Gladion looked away again. “Not sure… Maybe Friday after school.”

                “Okay.” And with that she turned and watched the rest of the matches go on. Ilima and Acerola won their match. Nanu hardly had any criticism for them. They worked really well together. Moon was a little jealous of how in sync they were.

                Once class was over, Moon noticed Gladion starting to leave. She went up and stopped him, but when she did he turned around to snarl at her.

                “What? What do you want? Why do you keep talking to me? We’re not friends!”

                Hearing that made Moon let go of his arm and stare at him in shock. “I… I just wanted to say goodbye,” she muttered. He scoffed at her and walked away. Ilima and Kiawe walked over to Moon and she looked up at them. “What did I say wrong?”

                “Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Kiawe said, “Gladion gets like that sometimes… He’s usually in a bad mood if he’s been told he’s doing something wrong.”

                Moon tilted her head. She had pulled her hands close to her chest and she had only just now noticed. She flexed her fingers nervously. “Why? So he messed up, why did he take it out on me?”

                Ilima sighed. “He’s really hard on himself,” he explained, “Lillie told me she caught him hurting himself after messing up a battle. When she confronted him he said if his Pokemon was hurt then he should hurt too. I think that’s part of the reason she always wants him to sit with us at lunch.”

                “She’s worried he’s going to hurt himself again…” Moon looked at the door that Gladion had walked out earlier. She felt bad again, but now for a different reason. She felt bad for him.

                Kiawe rubbed her shoulder, taking her out of her thoughts. “Like I said, don’t beat yourself up about it. He’ll probably be back to normal tomorrow.” Moon seriously hoped so. She wasn’t sure she wanted to talk to him if he was going to be so moody.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FOUND THREE SPELLING ERRORS THE SECOND I POSTED THIS WHY DOES SPELL CHECK HATE ME SO MUCH


	3. Advice From A Depressed Old Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY GUYS, So I completely forgot to mention, but this story does have moments where it mentions self-harm. I wanted to warn people now because I don't want to cause anyone to have any panic attacks or anything, I just totally forgot. Sorry about that. I DON'T HAVE ANYONE CURRENTLY HURTING THEMSELF, BUT I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT THIS DOES GET DISCUSSED A BIT.

           **PLEASE READ THE NOTES BEFORE YOU BEGIN I TOTALLY FORGOT TO MENTION SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

Moon had told her mother about Mina and Acerola, her two new friends, and her mother had been just as happy as the previous night. If not happier.

“You’re making so many friends! I’m so proud of you sweetie!”

She thought of that when she went to school the next morning. Gladion had said they weren’t really friends. Did the others feel the same way? She had only known them for a couple of days… Maybe he just hadn’t warmed up to her yet. She didn’t really know. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she actually waved at Sun when he greeted her.

“Ooh, an actual greeting this morning? I feel honored,” he teased.

Moon didn’t react other than a small roll of the shoulders. “Not feeling up to teasing right now,” she mumbled.

Sun looked at her. “Sheesh, you really aren’t a morning person.” Moon didn’t tell him that wasn’t why she wasn’t feeling up to it. It was better he didn’t know. Sun already didn’t seem very fond of Gladion. She didn’t want to start any fights.

When she got to English, Moon almost didn’t say hello to Lillie. She had thought about Ilima saying she caught her brother hurting himself and she hadn’t wanted to look her in the eyes.

She heard Lillie ask Sun what was up with her when she ignored the question herself. “She’s extra tired today,” he said, “She’ll be awake by lunch, though.”

Moon took notes in silence during English. The others tried to cheer her up, Lana made a bad pun that had Moon smiling, but other than that she was still in a pretty sour mood.

“Alola,” Moon heard beside her as she and Lana walked to Breeding. She turned and saw it was Kiawe who had greeted her. She offered him a weak smile. “Still upset about yesterday?” he asked.

Lana gave him a confused look. Moon nodded. “I feel like it’s my fault…”

“Well it isn’t,” Kiawe said, crossing his arms, “You didn’t do anything wrong. Gladion’s just grouchy.” Moon mumbled an ‘I guess’ and they kept walking. “I thought you two battled really well,” Kiawe said after a while, “Did you even know Type:Null was a normal type when you stopped that High Jump Kick?” She shook her head no. Kiawe smiled. “You’ve got good intuition, then.”

Moon was in a little bit of a better mood during breeding. It was kind of hard not to be happy when Mallow, Lana and Kiawe were all so cheerful. The two girls had tried cheering her up after Kiawe explained what happened.

“Want me to sock him in the nose?” Mallow offered.

Moon laughed lightly at that. “No, no, I’d rather not start any more fights,” she said.

“You sure?” Mallow asked, “Cuz I’ve kinda wanted to do it for a while now and this would be the perfect excuse.” Moon laughed again, but her face quickly fell.

Mallow huffed seeing her mood drop again, but Lana spoke up, patting her on the arm. “It’s okay Mallow. She’ll be fine once she talks to Hau,” she said. Moon gave her a look. “It’s physicaly impossible to be sad after spending time with him. He makes everyone happy. He’s a ray of sunshine.”

“I thought it was Sunshine Bomb,” Kiawe muttered, confused.

When Moon and Mallow got to Home Ec, Mallow shoved Moon toward Hau and told him, “She’s sad! Make her feel better!”

Hau stared at Mallow for a moment before looking at Moon. Moon was pink in the face and not looking at him, muttering about how she would be fine. He just grinned at her.

Putting his arms behind his head, he asked, “Didya lose? You worried I’m gonna be mad at you?”

Moon blinked and then turned her head. “Wha? No, no, we won,” she said.

Hau instantly held up a hand. Moon stared at him confused, so he inched it closer to her. “Oh,” she quickly gave him a high five once she understood.

“I knew you would win! Didya kick his ass good?” he asked, gripping her hand and squeezing it before letting go.

“Uh, kinda? Gladion was the one that took out his Marowak…”

Hau waved that comment away. “Details, details. I just wanna know if you gave him a good smack down!”

Moon smiled a little. “I think we did. Neither of our Pokemon got knocked out.”

“Atta girl!” Hau offered up another high five, “You keep this up and you’re gonna be top of the class! You’re gonna have challengers beating down your door! And I’m gonna be first in line!” He pointed his thumb at himself as he said the last bit. Moon couldn’t help but laugh.

“If you break my door I’m going to have to fine you,” she said. Hau only beamed and put his arms behind his head again.

Lillie came in and saw the two smiling. She looked at Mallow, who was standing to the side, but also had a grin on her face, and she smiled too. “Feeling better Moon?” she asked.

Moon nodded. “Hau can bring anyone’s mood up!” Mallow said, patting him on the back, “That’s why we love ‘im!”

Hau’s smile looked so proud. “I do what I can!”

The four of them had a really nice class after that. Moon felt better and better every time Hau opened his mouth. This was why he was Sunshine Bomb number one. He had a way of brightening everything up. Sun just wasn’t on his level.

When they went to Math, Sun was of course happy to see Moon in a better mood. Lillie told him he had Hau to thank for that and so Sun did. He gave Hau a big hug and told him he was the best. Hau was glowing with happiness.

Sophocles looked at them. “What was the problem in the first place?” he asked, looking at Moon.

Moon quickly realized that none of them knew what had really been upsetting her. The last people to find out had been Lana and Mallow and neither of them were in class with her. She looked at the group with her and saw them waiting expectantly.

“Ah, it’s not a big deal,” she said, “Just didn’t have a very good night. Don’t worry about it.”

“Didn’t have a good night? You? The person who loves night time and hates mornings?” Sun was giving her a cheeky smile.

Moon frowned at him. “You watch it, Bubs, or I’m gonna make sure you hate mornings too.”

Molayne called their attention and class began. He was having them do a worksheet in class. Hau kept leaning over his desk to peek at what Sophocles was writing. The orange haired boy would wave him away and mutter angrily at him, but Hau just kept right on doing it. Moon figured Sophocles didn’t really mind all that much.

They had started heading to lunch when Moon realized she left one of her books in the Math room. “I’ll be there a bit late, guys,” she said, “I need that book for homework tonight.”

“Want any of us to go with you?” Lillie asked.

“Nah, I’ll be fine. See you guys in a bit!”

She was lucky that the next class had only just barely started shuffling into the room. There were only maybe four kids in there to see her go in, grab her book, and scurry out. She tucked her book into her bag as she walked. Before heading to lunch she decided to stop at her locker real quick to grab her stuff for PE later. As she walked back she stumbled to a bit of a stop when she spotted an all too familiar head of icy blond hair. She hoped he hadn’t seen her. She didn’t want a confrontation.

She tried to hurry and kept walking toward the cafeteria. She heard him say Alola to her though, and she knew she had to slow down and actually talk to him.

“Alola,” she replied, only giving him a quick look, before adjusting her bag and continuing to look forward. He didn’t say anything else after the greeting, and Moon was thankful for that.

Lillie was more than happy to see him with her and patted the space next to her invitingly. “Actually, Moon,” Kiawe spoke up, "Could you sit next to me today? I wanted to show you some stuff.”

Moon was thankful for him. She was sure it would have been uncomfortable sitting next to the boy who had said they weren’t friends. Surprisingly enough, Kiawe actually did have stuff to show her. He had pictures and information about Alolan Marowak.

She picked one paper up and looked at it. She looked at him after, though, a little confused. “You wanted to know more about them, right? I figured this would be good enough until I could actually let you see them in Battle Tactics.” He had closed his eyes and smiled as he spoke. Moon still wanted to squish his face. Even Kiawe was an adorable cinnamon roll.

Hau was reaching a hand over the table, clenching and unclenching his fingers as he groped for the paper. Moon smiled and handed it to him.

“Use your words, Hau,” Mina said, looking at him.

Hau huffed from where he was. He swallowed and said, “I was eating! I didn’t wanna be rude!”

Moon smiled at him. Such a cutie.

Art went by a lot faster than Moon would have liked to admit. They were still looking at slideshows and taking notes, so it felt like it all sped by. When she went to the girl’s locker room that connected to the pool, she almost wished she could go back and sit in on art again. She hardly remembered half of what they looked at.

Most of the girls in the class didn’t really seem to care about privacy, and Moon was thankful for that. She’d rather not have to wait for a shower stall or toilet cubicle to open up to change like some of them were doing. She changed quickly, tugging at the little skirt attached to her swimsuit. It was black, but the skirt that flared out and just barely covered her butt was red.

She saw most of the girls in her class were opting not to wear bikinis either. It made sense. Why ruin a really nice suit in the school pool? Save the special ones for the beach or something.

When she walked out into the pool area in her red flip-flops, Moon looked for the guys. She saw Kiawe first. If she wasn’t already getting used to seeing him without a shirt she might have been embarrassed. The only thing she felt weird about was seeing him without that necklace thing he always wore. He waved when he saw her and she walked over to him.

He had set his towel on the bleachers by the pool, so she set hers next to his. “You look cute,” he said, “I like the skirt.” Moon felt her face heat up and she heard him laugh. “Sorry, didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“I-it’s fine,” she stammered, “Thank you.”

“Hey, hey!” Moon turned hearing Sun greet them. He was wearing blue swim trunks and had a matching blue towel around his neck. Hau was following close behind him. He was wearing bright yellow trunks with an orange floral print on them. And Moon noticed he had his hair down. He looked like one of those stereotypical surfer dudes.

When the two of them were beside them, Moon said, “Hau, I almost didn’t recognize you with your hair down.”

He blinked in surprise at first, but quickly smiled. “Haha, yeah, I forgot,” he said, “The clip I use to hold it up is metal, and I didn’t want to ruin it.”

“So, really decided on not wearing a bikini, huh Moon?” Sun asked, sounding a little disappointed. Moon glowered at him, ready to say something mean, but Hau cut her off.

“I think she looks nice!” he said and Moon felt herself go red in the face for the second time that class period.

Kiawe ruffled her hair when he saw her blushing, and Moon swatted at his hands with unhappy whines.

“Oh, did I miss something good?” everyone looked when Ilima spoke up. Moon stopped hitting Kiawe and turned to look at him. He was wearing a pair of pink space print swim trunks. His fluffy hair was tied back into a little itty bitty bun and Moon couldn’t help but smile at how cute it looked.

“Nah,” Sun replied, putting his hands behind his head like Hau always did, “Moon just decided not to wear a skimpier outfit…” Moon smacked the back of his head with a scowl.

Sun turned and started yelling at her, but she didn’t even hear him. She saw Gladion walking over. He was wearing black trunks and a red sleeveless top. Of the guys, he was the only one wearing a shirt. But that wasn’t what really caught Moon’s attention. What she noticed were all the incredibly visible scars all over his arms. As he got closer she could see just how many there were and that there were some visible around his collar bone. There had to be at least thirty. Some were big and looked like they had been nasty gashes, and others were small.

The guys turned and looked at him. “Hey Glads,” Sun greeted, still mildly annoyed at Moon for hitting him. Gladion made a noise in response and tossed his own towel over with all the others.

Moon looked at Ilima after looking at all the marks on the pale boy. Ilima noticed and just gave her a hard stare that seemed to say “Don’t talk about it.” So she didn’t.

The professor had everyone get in the water and said he wanted them to just swim around for a bit to get used to it. It was cold and Moon winced as she lowered herself in. She saw a couple of the guys doing the same thing, most notably Kiawe, and felt like less of a wimp.

Hau floated over to where Moon had swam and smiled before telling her to watch his hair. She raised an eyebrow at him, confused, but Hau slowly started letting himself lower into the water, and she saw his hair spread out like a giant green flower before it went up into a straight spike as he completely dunked his head. She smiled and he popped back up with a laugh.

“Funny right?”

Moon nodded, “Your hair looked like Kiawe’s for a second there.” Hau grinned with a happy ‘hee’ sound.

The other guys swam over to the two of them and Sun quickly splashed Hau. Soon it turned into the two of them trying to almost drown each other. Ilima had to break them up.

Kiawe looked at Moon and Gladion, who were both treading water next to each other, and smiled. “Hey, you two match!” he said. They both looked at each and then back at him, confused. “You’re both wearing red and black.”

“Oooh,” Moon whispered, looking down at herself through the water. She looked at Gladion too. Kiawe was right. Moon had expected Kiawe would have worn red, but his trunks were orange. They didn’t look bad on him, though.

She turned her head and saw Hau floating on his back with a blissful smile on his face and Sun swimming around him, making him spin.

“Those two are so weird,” she mumbled, watching them. Moon lifted her head to look up at the professor. He was talking to a few girls that were sitting out. Moon didn’t even question it.

But apparently Sun did. “How come those girls aren’t swimming? Do they just not want to get their hair wet?”

Moon rolled her eyes at him. “Ever heard of menstruation?" She asked with a frown. He blinked at her a couple of times before his mouth made a perfect O shape and he nodded his head slowly.

“They’re gonna have to make up the classes, though,” Hau said, shifting back to a treading water position.

“I’m sure they’re aware, Hau,” Gladion said from where he was floating. Finally the professor turned to the class and had them all go to the side of the pool that had the lanes. He wanted them to get into groups to do some relays. He had them get into groups of six. Lucky for them, they were already the perfect number.

The relays weren’t too bad. Out of their group Kiawe had the fastest time. None of them were really surprised. He was so athletic it only made sense. The slowest was Hau. His excuse had been that he preferred surfing over swimming.

When they finally were allowed to get out of the water, Moon ended up nearly falling back into the pool as she climbed over the edge. Gladion caught her, and she thanked him excessively.

They each grabbed their towels and Moon smiled when she noticed Hau’s had a print of an Alolan Raichu on it. That was one of the few Pokemon in the Alola region she knew about. She thought they were adorable.

“You ready for Battle Tactics?” Kiawe asked her, rubbing his towel into his hair. Not all of the battles had gotten done last time, so today they were probably going to watch the last few.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Moon replied, looking at the back of Gladion’s head as they walked behind him. Kiawe saw and gave her a reassuring pat.

He leaned in close and whispered into her ear, “Consider yourself lucky. You’re not in his grade, so you only have a couple of classes to deal with him.”

She looked at him. “You have him in more classes?”

“Yup,” he replied, “Like three others.”

“Wow.”

Moon kept looking at all the scars on Gladion as they walked. There were so many. What the hell happened to him? When he lifted an arm to tug at his bangs, Moon noticed a row of small scars on his wrist. Now she knew one hundred percent what Ilima had meant by hurting himself.

They split up and Moon went to the girl’s room to change and try to deal with her now very tangled hair. She was able to brush it out, but gave up on trying to keep it down. It was so wet it just kept sticking to her neck. So she tied it back and hurried out to get to her last class.

She pouted a little seeing that Kiawe’s hair looked exactly like it normally did. It was like it hadn’t ever been wet. Ilima had his hair tied back again, and Moon wondered if he was as mad at Kiawe as she was about this. Gladion walked with them and when they got to class, Mina asked them why their hair was all wet.

“Swimming,” Ilima replied, fussing with his hair a bit.

It wasn’t as exciting of a class when she wasn’t battling for Moon, but she still observed the other students and tried to take notes on how they each battled.

As she was watching one really good battle between two girls who had bug types and their opponents, who had fairy types, Gladion tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and looked at him, waiting to hear what he had to say.

“We still on for Friday?” he asked. Moon was a little annoyed that he wasn’t apologizing, but she nodded her head anyway. “Cool,” he mumbled, turning his head back to the battles.

After class ended, Moon stayed sitting where she had been for a moment. Ilima offered to help her up, but she said she needed a moment to think about something and if she moved it would be gone. So her friends left her alone and she sat in the grass. But she wasn’t really thinking. It would probably be better described as sulking.

Why was she still so upset that Gladion didn’t consider her his friend? She hardly had any friends back home in Kanto. She had only ever really had two, and it had never broken her heart if they drifted apart. She had so many other people here that seemed to like her well enough. Had being in Alola really changed her that much after only a few days? Was she really that different that she wanted lots of friends and got upset when she thought she was losing one? Moon frowned at herself. She had been so much stronger in Kanto. No one got to her back there. She could be alone and not have anyone to talk to whenever she needed to. Here she had friendly faces greeting her in every single class. And they had already asked to see her outside of school. Her old friends had only ever talked to her when they were in class. They were friends more out of necessity than actual want. She had never really wanted friends before.

So what changed…? Had she been softened up by all the sweet smiles and cute antics? Did she have walls up without even realizing it? Had those walls been broken down?

Moon looked up when she saw a pair of feet in front of her. Nanu was standing there looking down at her. Moon sniffled a little.

“Not really taking time to think are ya?” he asked, facial expression remaining bored.

She looked down again. “No,” she admitted.

“Did something happen?” Moon was surprised that out of all people, Professor Nanu was the one to pick up on her conflict.

But even though she knew he knew, Moon lied. “No,” she said, “Nothing much… I’m just overthinking things.”

Nanu stood in silence for a while. Moon could hear the bustle of the other students as everyone was starting to leave, but that didn’t make her move.

“You said you got a Meowth?” Nanu asked.

Moon looked up at him. Meowth? What did that have to do with anything? “My mo-om does,” she hiccupped a little in the middle of her sentence. She hadn’t even been crying, why did she sound so upset?

Nanu nodded and watched the kids streaming out of the building. “Whenever I’m feeling down, I spend time with my Meowth. They don’t care who you are or what your problems are, but they listen. Maybe you should do that.”

“Okay…” she pushed herself up to her feet, “Thanks… I think.” Nanu nodded and walked off, his shoulders slouched forward. Moon stood a while, watching him, before she followed and went to her locker inside. She was glad Sun was already gone. She couldn’t handle the cheerfulness right now. Nanu’s calm demeanor had really helped her though. She just needed to talk about it to Meowth. She was sure it would help just to talk about it.

When Moon made her way to the house, she saw a note from her mother on the front door. She would be out for a bit and would return around dinner time. Moon was thankful for it. She just needed time with Meowth.

The little cat Pokemon greeted her with a lazy cry from the couch. Moon walked over and sat down, lifting her into her arms. Meowth only yawned and curled up in her grip.

“Meowth, I’m just gonna talk,” Moon said, “You don’t have to do anything. I was… I was just told that this would help.” The cat licked her arm once and nuzzled into her before closing her eyes.

And so she talked. She talked. And talked. And talked. Moon found herself in tears as soon as she recalled the moment Gladion had yelled at her. Just remembering how angry he looked when he turned around had broken her. And it broke her even more when she began thinking of how hard the others had tried to cheer her up afterward. Kiawe and Ilima… Mallow... Hau... They had been such good friends. She didn’t deserve such nice people hanging out with her. She wasn’t worth anything.

She had let go of Meowth, letting her rest in her lap, and started wiping at her eyes.

“I’ve never had friends like this before, Meowth,” she whispered, “I’ve always felt like an annoyance or a nuisance, but everyone here has been so nice to me. And they’ve all been so interested. Even Sun.” She sobbed and wiped at her eyes again before the tears had a chance to spill out. “I understand why I’m so upset now, Meowth.”

The cat looked up at her with one eye.

“I like how different this all is. I don’t want things to be like they were before. I want to have friends… I don’t want to be on my own anymore.”

Meowth stood and began rubbing against Moon’s torso. Moon sniffled and smiled before petting her and pulling her into another hug.

“Thanks, Meowth,” she said, “Nanu was right. You’re a great listener.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for all the kudos. :) wasn't expecting response like this. I'm glad people like what I have so far.


	4. You're Not Helping, Lillie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like doing a double update today. its nice being on break.

                Moon felt unusually awake the next day. She had never been a morning person, but apparently all that crying had been good for her sleep.

                Sun smiled at her when she got to her locker. “Howdy,” he greeted.

                “Morning,” Moon replied, yanking the stupid door and almost smashing it into Sun’s own locker. She barely caught it. “How you doing, Number Two?”

                He scowled at her, putting his fists on his hips. “Very funny, Moon,” he said, “Just you wait. Soon I’m gonna come up with some horrible embarrassing nickname for you and you’re never gonna get rid of it.”

                She shrugged. “That sounds fair. Can’t wait to find out what it will be.”

                Sun gaped at her for a moment before ginning. “You’re certainly in a good mood this morning. Get a good night’s sleep or something?”

                “Yep,” Moon replied, adjusting her books in her bag, “Cried my eyes out with Meowth and slept like a Snorlax.”

                Sun walked with her and gave her a puzzled look. “Why were you crying? Were you watching a sad movie or something?” Moon only smiled at him and put a finger to her lips. Sun pouted at that.

                English was very tame that morning. Nobody was yelling. Everyone was in a very pleasant mood.

                Lana smiled over at Moon. “So you finally got over the whole Gladion thing, then?” she asked.

                “What Gladion thing?” Lillie’s voice made a chill run down Moon’s spine. She stared at Lana with wide, horrified eyes.

                Lana blinked. “Oh no, I’m sorry Moon, I didn’t realize she didn’t know.”

                “Didn’t know what?” Sun asked this time, looking at them confused.

                Moon swallowed before looking at Lillie.

                “What. Happened.” Lillie was scowling. She wasn’t very intimidating, but it was obvious she was mad.

                “It wasn’t a big deal,” Moon started.

                “It was a big enough deal that Lana referred to it as ‘the thing,” Lillie cut across her, “What did he do?”

                Moon swallowed again. Her mouth felt so dry. She desperately wanted some water in that moment.

                “R-really, Lils, it wasn’t a big deal. I’m already fine, so there’s no need to worry.” Lillie squinted her eyes, but didn’t press the topic any further. Moon had a feeling she would find out on her own.

                It made her nervous enough to not talk to her at all during Home Ec, though. And during Breeding Lana had told the other two that Lillie was probably going to be on a mission to find out what happened and to not tell her anything, as per Moon’s instruction.

                None of it made any difference, though. Because once they were all in lunch, Lillie jumped out of her seat when she saw her brother. Quite a few of the people sitting at their table looked at her in utter confusion. Moon looked at her with fear in her eyes.

                Lillie stormed over to Gladion, grabbing one of the ropes from his hoodie, and immediately started up on him. “All right, mister! I don’t know what you said to Moon, but you had better apologize this instant!”

                Gladion blinked a couple of times at her before looking at Moon. He looked back at Lillie. He didn't say anything, just raised an eyebrow.

                But Lillie didn’t let up. “You apologize!”

                The older boy sighed. “Sorry, I guess,” he said toward Moon, “Didn’t realize you’d go and tell on me to my sister.”

                To Moon’s surprise, Lana stood up at that point. “She didn’t say anything. Lillie only found out because of me. So if you want to be passive aggressive with someone, be passive aggressive with me.” Moon was startled by how frightening Lana was when she was mad. Her eyes had gone cold and her expression was steely. It was intense.

                Hau looked back and forth between the group. He saw the knowing looks Kiawe, Mallow, and Ilima had on their faces, so he whispered to them, “What’s going on?”

                “Gladion and Moon had a fight,” Mallow whispered, glancing at Ilima and Kiawe quickly. None of them were going to say anything else if Moon didn’t want them to.

                Lillie dragged her brother over to their table and made him sit next to her for the rest of the awkward and uncomfortable time that lunch went.

                Moon knew Lillie’s intentions were good, but she had a feeling this wasn’t going to make the situation any better. She had been perfectly fine just moving on and letting it go.

                As they were leaving the cafeteria, Moon was certain she saw Gladion look at her over his shoulder. She tried not to look at him. She was going to have to deal with him come PE anyway.

                Ilima walked beside her on the way to art. “You okay?” Moon tried to give him a convincing smile. “Lillie was only trying to help…”

                “I know,” Moon said, looking away from him, “But I was doing just fine. Nanu and I had a talk and he really helped me out… To be honest, she only ended up making it worse.”

                There was a long pause before Ilima said, “I’m sorry.”

                In art they were finally getting their chance to make something. Their professor wanted them to try and emulate a pre-existing artist’s style. Sophocles whined and complained and begged for help the entire time. Ilima ended up by his side for ninety percent of the class.

                The only point Moon finally got to talk to him again was when class ended. She walked by his side and asked, “If something happens during PE, promise you won’t try and fix it?”

                He looked startled by the question. “Why would I _not_ try to fix it?” he asked, looking angry, “If he’s treating you like shit, I’m not just going to stand by and watch!”

                Moon sighed. “Well at least promise you won’t do what Lillie did…”

                Ilima folded his arms across his chest. “I won’t make any promises like that. You’re my friend. I’m going to stick up for you.” It wasn’t that Moon didn’t appreciate his concern, it was just that she would rather let he whole thing go.

                Moon had prepared two different suits for the swim unit. She would wear one on one day and then wash it that night and wear the other the next day. Today her suit was white with two blue diagonal stripes.

                When she went out to meet up with the guys, Sun groaned as loud as he could. “Ah, what? You wear a different suit and it’s _still_ not a bikini?! What the hell, Moon?”

                Moon only frowned at him. Hau beamed at her, though. “I like the blue stripes!” He poked one of them and Moon flinched back with a little bit of a yelp.

                Turns out that Moon wasn’t the only one who wanted to make sure she had a clean suit for each day. Ilima had new trunks today. They were brown and had paler brown horizontal stripes. Moon told him she liked the pink ones better.

                “I know,” he huffed, “I like those ones too. I just wanted to be sure to wash them.”

                The professor wanted them to swim around for a while again. He said they should just expect to do that every day when they came in. “I’m not going to keep reminding you, so just get in the water whenever you get out here.”

                Hau was swimming around, kicking his legs like a frog. Moon was sitting on the edge watching him for a moment with a smile. He was such a goober.

                Moon had acknowledged Gladion once she swam over to the group, but he barely gave her more than a glance. Lillie definitely made it worse.

                “We should play Totem!” Hau said, seemingly oblivious to any tension, swimming over to the others excitedly.

                Moon gave him a confused look. “It’s when two people sit on someone else’s shoulders and try to knock the other off and into the water,” Kiawe explained.

                “You’ve never heard of it?” Sun asked Moon, “What the hell did you even do while you were in Kanto?”

                “Ooh! Ooh! I want Kiawe as my partner!” Hau quickly shouted, sort of hopping out of the water and clinging to the older boy’s shoulders.

                Sun pushed him off. “Oh no you don’t, you always get Kiawe! This time it’s my turn!” Kiawe laughed as they began to fight over him.

                “Does this happen a lot?” she asked Ilima.

                “Yep,” he said with a wink, “Every time we play they get like this.”

                Their game never came, though, because the professor had them do more relays. Hau had been so disappointed. Everyone watched as he let himself sink all the way to the bottom of the pool before Kiawe dove down and pulled him back up.

                “It’s not the end of the world, Hau,” Ilima said sweetly, “I’m sure you’ll get to play another time.”

                Moon had almost slipped and fallen again after she got out of the pool. And once again Gladion caught her. Moon half expected he would let her drown with the way things were going.

                “You really should be more careful,” he commented. Moon frowned and said she would have been fine.

                “Hey, Moon,” Sun spoke next to her, “You never answered me before.”

                “What, about not playing Totem?” He nodded and Moon frowned. “I dunno, my friends and I just never really did stuff like that in Kanto. It just wasn’t really our thing.”

                “Well it’s _definitely_ our thing,” he said, “So you’d better be prepared to participate sometime.” She didn’t argue. She just nodded and went into the locker room to change.

                Battle Tactics would certainly be something. Even aside from the Gladion thing. She had absolutely no idea what they were supposed to be doing. All the battles had gotten done. What would Nanu have them do?

                When they reached the room, Mina was the one greeting them in the middle of the room. “Professor Nanu will be a tad late today,” she said, “So until then I’ll be in charge. Let’s start with attendance or something…”

                She had them sit with their partners and told them to try and plan out a training schedule for over the weekend for now. Moon noticed that now she had smudges and spots of blue paint all over her face. She must have been a really messy artist.

                Moon sat next to Gladion and tried not to look as uncomfortable as she felt.

                She was fidgeting. A lot.

                “Look,” Gladion sighed next to her, “I’m sorry, all right? I wasn’t mad at you.”

                Moon waved her hands in front of her. “No, no, you don’t have to apologize again, it’s fine, really!”

                He frowned. “But you told Lillie you were upset…”

                “No, um, actually… Lana was the one who had mentioned it,” she saw him squint at her and quickly added, “But honestly, I really am totally fine! You don’t need to say you’re sorry! It’s all good!”

                The blond huffed and turned his head away. He didn’t say anything for a while. Nanu even walked in before he finally opened his mouth again.

                “Well, we’re still supposed to work together on this… We should avoid any animosity if we can.”

                She appreciated that he was trying, but Moon didn’t say anything to that, she just pulled out a notebook and started trying to plan out a training schedule with him. They decided they should focus on combination attacks. If they both were attacking at once with moves that had high hit rates, they were more likely to actually make contact. Their opponents wouldn’t be able to single one of them out if they moved in sync. He kept saying he needed to do better. At first Moon didn’t think much of it but he kept saying it and she was starting to worry.

                After he said it for the fifth time she set her notebook down in her lap with a sigh. He looked at her with the one visible eyebrow raised. “Please stop beating yourself up over what Nanu said,” she said softly, turning to look at him, “It was our first time battling together. We’re not used to each other’s battle styles… I just tend to try and protect before attacking out of habit. We both have things to work on. It’s not just on you…” He stared at her for a moment before looking off at the wall to his left.

                Moon felt a pat to her shoulder and turned to see Kiawe offering her a reassuring smile. Obviously he overheard.

                The next day was Friday. She and Gladion were going to practice once school was over. It would be okay. They just needed time to get used to each other.

                “Oh,” she stopped Gladion before he could leave the room, “Since we’re meeting after school, what’s Lillie gonna do? You said you two ride home together.”

                Gladion blinked a couple of times. “Do you mind if she stays and watches us?”

                “I don’t mind, just thought I should check first.” He nodded his head after she spoke and walked off.

                Moon had been trying to relax ever since she got back to the house that night, but unfortunately for her Sun found her on social media and was spamming her with requests to video chat. And not long after he started doing it, Moon started getting group requests from both him and Hau. They were incessant.

                After rejecting them for over two hours she finally answered, but put her sleeping Rowlet in front of the camera.

                She could hear Hau cooing at it happily. “Look at the sleepy bubboo! Hi sleepy! Hi! You're so cute! Look at your sleepy little face!”

                “Moon, we know you’re there,” Sun said over Hau’s happy baby talk, “You finally answered us.”

                She stayed out of the view of the camera, but said, “Yeah, because you two wouldn’t give it a rest. I’m trying to do homework, can’t you two just talk amongst yourselves?”

                Sun had started to talk again, but Hau quickly overpowered him. “Moon, your Rowlet is cute! I want it!”

                With a smile, Moon pulled her phone over toward herself. “Yeah, well you’re out of luck, bud. He’s mine and I love him.”

                She saw Sun grin once she was in frame. “How ya doin’ Moony?”

                “Well I was doing a pretty good job with my homework until you two decided to call,” Moon replied, propping her phone up on the coffee table and pulling her notebook into her lap. “How did you even find my account?”

                “Your name is Moon,” Sun said, giving her a look that said “duh.”

                “How was Battle Tactics?” Hau asked. Moon could see him fiddling with his hair. It was a little pixelated, but she saw him let his hair fall out of its usual ponytail and she smiled. He really looked like a surfer dude. It was so weird.

                She shrugged. “It was all right. Nanu had us try and work out a training schedule, but Gladion and I had already kind of had one planned.”

                Sun rubbed his chin and hummed after she said that. “Gladion’s real strong, isn’t he?” Hau asked, smiling and picking up a bag of some sort of snack. Moon could hear him crunching on whatever it was. Hau really hadn't seemed to notice the tension during the day. Either that or he just didn't want to ask. Moon was kind of glad for it. Things were okay now. They had made up. “He and I battled once. He kicked my ass.”

                “When did you two battle?” Moon asked.

                “The same festival where he screamed at me,” Sun answered for him. “We went up against Hau and Hapu in that festival.”

                “You two were really good,” Hau said, stuffing more of his snack into his mouth, “Even if he was mad at you. You guys creamed me and Hapu.”

                “Hapu’s in your class right, Moon?”

                Moon nodded to Sun’s question. “Yeah. I thought she was in the wrong place at first. She’s so small. I thought she was younger than us.”

                Sun laughed at that, putting his arms behind his head. “Nope! She’s just cursed with shortness!”

                Moon’s mom came in after that. She had been out getting groceries. Moon greeted her with a wave. Hau and Sun both shouted greetings from the phone, even though they couldn’t see her.

                “Oh, are you talking to friends?” her mom asked, walking over to peer down at Moon’s little red phone.

                “Alola!” both boys said again, smiling brightly at the older woman.

                Moon begrudgingly smiled. “Yeah, this is Hau and Sun,” she said, pointing at each of them respectively, “Sun and I have lockers right next to each other and I’m in like three classes with each of them.”

                Her mom smiled warmly. “Well it’s a pleasure to meet you both. You two should come over some time. I would love to meet you in person!”

                The three students chatted for a while before Hau said he was getting another call. “Ooh, who from?” Sun had asked, sounding like he was teasing.

                “It’s Lillie!” Hau replied. The smile on his face when he said that… He looked so excited to talk to her. “Gotta go you guys! Talk to you both tomorrow!”

                And then it was just Sun and Moon.

                Sun sighed and shook his head, smiling and closing his eyes. “That Hau,” he mumbled, “Boy’s got it bad for Lils.”

                Moon paused in her homework with a blink. She turned and looked down at her phone. “Hau likes Lillie?”

                Now Sun blinked. “You couldn’t tell? Did you not hear how happy he was when he saw it was her calling?”

                “He’s always that happy to hear from anyone,” Moon said, frowning.

                “Okay, well you got me there,” Sun said, “But trust me when I say he likes her. I don’t think he even realizes it yet, but he does.”

                Moon frowned harder. “Are you just playing matchmaker?”

                Sun winked at her, waggling a finger, “Maybe I am, maybe I’m not!”

                “All right, mister matchmaker, then who else likes someone? Come on, I wanna hear it.”

                The black haired boy paused. He rubbed his chin for a while. “Well,” he began, “I’m pretty sure Ilima kind of likes Mina. At the very least he has an artist crush on her.”

                “And an artist crush is different from a regular crush how?”

                “Well, you know,” Sun said, rolling his shoulders, “He loves the stuff she makes and he wished he could make art like her… And he loves watching her process and likes talking to her about art…”

                Moon rolled her eyes. “That just sounds like they have a mutual interest and enjoy talking about it,” she said, “So far you’re not a very good matchmaker.”

                Sun huffed. “Oh yeah? Well, who do _you_ think likes someone?”

                Moon shrugged. “I dunno. I haven’t known everyone long enough to be able to tell anything like that yet.”

                “But you were able to argue with me about Hau and Ilima because…?”

                “Bye Sun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i go and re-read these before i post them and notice moments where i completely left out words and i just.... how did i miss them the first time?


	5. Totem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my dog won't leave me alone someone help

When Moon woke up the next morning she saw ten new friend requests on her account. She didn’t even need to look at who they were. Just accepted them all and headed off to school.

Her locker had a picture of her sleeping Rowlet taped to it when she got there. Either Sun or Hau took a fucking screenshot of her starter. Moon almost couldn’t believe it. They saw Rowlet for less than five minutes!

“Why do you have a picture of your Rowlet on your locker?”

Moon turned her head to see who had spoken. She smiled a little. “Hey Gladion,” she greeted, “I’m pretty sure Hau took a picture of it last night and put it here for me.”

Gladion just looked at the sleeping bird’s picture. “He was at your house?”

“Nah, he and Sun found me online and wouldn’t stop trying to videochat with me for two hours,” she replied, pulling her locker open. Still sticking. She needed to remember to oil it. She frowned. “Hey, you got a marker?”

He blinked down at her. “Yeah,” he said, pulling one out of the little red bag he had around his waist, “Why do you need it?”

Moon quickly scribbled onto the back of her hand, “BRING OIL FOR DOOR.”

“Oh.” Gladion took the marker back once she was done.

“No Lillie this morning?” Moon asked, taking her books out of the small blue space.

“She’s already off at her locker,” he answered, “She’ll see you during class.” Moon nodded at that. “Well, I’ll see you later.”

“See you at lunch, Gladion.”

Sun was playing out some sort of beat on his desk when Moon got to class. He was really jamming out, too. He didn’t even notice she came in. Lana joined in with him after waving at Moon when she saw her.

“Good morning, Moon,” Lillie greeted oh so cheerfully. Moon smiled at her in spite of feeling like she needed two more hours of sleep. “Excited to be training with my brother after school today?”

Moon nodded and sat in her desk. “I think it should be interesting to say the least.”

“Do you two have any battle partners to go up against?”

“Uh, not really,” Moon said, “I’m sure we could ask Kiawe or Ilima, but honestly I didn’t even think about that.”

“Well, even if you don’t have anybody to battle against, I’m sure it will be a good training session. I’ll make sure Gladion doesn’t act unreasonably.” Moon laughed nervously at that. She didn’t really need Lillie to try and take care of her. She and Gladion could work out any problems they might have. Lillie had only made things worse last time.

Once class started their group fell into silence. Although, Moon could still see and hear Sun tapping away with his pencil the entire period.

She and Lana walked to Pokemon Breeding together talking about their newest English assignment. They were supposed to write a review of a movie they had seen recently. Moon was grumbling about it. She hadn’t seen any movies in over a year.

“It’ll be all right,” Lana said, “I’m sure you can just watch something over the weekend. After all, he never said it had to be a recent movie. Just one you’ve watched within the last few months.”

“Good point,” Moon commented, “Maybe I’ll just rewatch Beauty and the Beedrill again.”

Lana smiled. “You like those ones too?”

“Yeah, that one was my favorite when I was little,” Moon replied, “Which one was yours?”

“Pete’s Dratini.”

“Really? I never liked that one very much.”

Lana frowned. “You just have no taste, then.”

“Who has no taste?” Moon looked up to see Mallow walking over to them.

Lana pointed at Moon. “She doesn’t like the movie Pete’s Dratini!”

Mallow smiled. “I never liked that one all that much either.” Lana huffed and puffed at her. “My favorite was always The Cubone Dance.”

“That one wasn’t even an actual movie!” Lana yelled, stomping one foot down, “It doesn’t count!”

Mallow gave Lana a pat on the head and they walked into class. When he arrived, they of course asked Kiawe which movie was his favorite when he was little.

“Cyndaquilla,” he answered, almost instantly.

Lana scowled at him. “You just like that one because it’s about fire types!”

“But it was so good!” he argued, sitting down next to her and hitting his hand on his desk, “The animation in it was gorgeous!”

“The animation of the fire, maybe,” Mallow commented, “I always thought the two Chikorita sisters walked really funny.”

“We need to find out what movies everyone else liked when they were little,” Lana decided, “We need to know which of us has the best taste.” They all agreed.

When Mallow and Moon saw Hau in Home Ec, the very first thing they did was ask him which movie he had liked when he was little.

“Lady Froufrou and the Growlithe,” he replied.

“That one’s a remake,” Mallow argued.

He smiled. “I just like all the food in it.”

Mallow shook her head. “Typical Hau.”

Lillie came in and was immediately subjected to the same treatment. She blinked a few times and thought it over. “One Hundred and One Growlithe,” she said after a solid three minutes thinking.

That day in class they were supposed to be baking. Moon and Mallow were working together and Hau was working with Lillie. At one point Moon looked over and saw Lillie poke batter onto his nose. They were precious! She actually clutched at her heart when she saw that. If they really did end up dating she would be so happy. They were so freaking cute!

“You know, it’s funny,” Mallow said to Moon, “You’re brand new here but it feels like we’ve been friends for forever… You know?”

Moon smiled at her. “I know what you mean,” she said, “That’s probably why I got so upset when Gladion said we weren’t friends. I just feel like I know you guys so well already.”

“Guess you’re just part of the family then!” She ruffled Moon’s hair after that, and even though Moon didn’t like being touched, she didn’t mind it one bit.

Lunch came faster than she thought it would. Math had been completely boring. They were preparing for their first test next week. It sucked.

Lana had begun interrogating the whole group about their favorite old movies. Sun’s favorite was The Princess and the Croagunk, Acerola’s was Sleeping Beautifly because she said she loved the scary parts, Mina had said the same as Lillie, Ilima said his favorite was The Little Primarina, Sophocles said the same as Kiawe, and Gladion had said the same as Moon. Lana was mad that nobody else agreed with her on Pete’s Dratini. Kiawe had high-fived Sophocles for agreeing with him on Cyndaquilla.

“You’re all just crazy,” Lana grumbled.

Sun smirked at her. “Or maybe you’re crazy since no one else likes that movie.” The two of them proceeded to scowl at each other for a solid ten minutes.

“Sophy,” Hau said, interrupting their little spat, “Are you gonna help me with our math this weekend?”

“No,” he said, frowning, “You’re a big boy, Hau. You can do it yourself!”

Hau whined, slumping out onto the cafeteria table. “But Sophy! I don’t wanna do it myself!”

“Too bad.”

In PE their professor said today was their fun day. They didn’t have to get in the pool if they didn’t want. Hau cannonballed in as soon as he finished his sentence.

He turned to his friends and shouted, “Come on! We’re playing Totem!”

Sun hopped in, shouting, “I call Kiawe!”

“Nu-uh! I called Kiawe last class!” Hau argued, splashing Sun once he came back up to the surface.

Ilima laughed at the two of them and offered Kiawe a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “Why don’t I partner with Kiawe instead? That way neither of you have to be angry at the other.”

“No way! Either one of us gets Kiawe or no one does!” Sun shouted, dunking Hau under for a moment.

“Why don’t you do a contest or something to decide who, then?” Moon offered, “Like maybe see who can hold their breath the longest. I can be the judge if you want…”

The two of them said it was a great idea and they began. Moon was just sitting on the edge watching them, Kiawe and Gladion sitting beside her. Sun came up first and groaned when he saw Hau was still under.

Once the green haired boy popped back up, Moon said, “Congratulations, Hau, you get Kiawe for the day.”

Sun pouted. “Fine, Moon, you be my partner then.”

“Why me exactly?” Kiawe had already slipped into the water and was being hugged by Hau.

“Because you’re smaller than Ilima and Gladion and I don’t want to have to struggle to keep them on my shoulders.”

“You are pretty puny,” Gladion agreed. Moon frowned at him.

“I’d rather watch first. I’ve never played before. I want to see how it’s done.”

Sun agreed with a few complaints, and Ilima offered to have Sun sit on his shoulders instead. Once Gladion told them to start, the four of them began their little battle. Hau and Sun were pushing and shoving at each other and trying to yank each other down. Kiawe and Ilima were trying to knock into each other as well. Kiawe and Hau would lean forward to try and push their weight into the others. At one point Hau kicked at Ilima.

“Is that allowed?” Moon asked, looking to the blond sitting next to her.

He shrugged. “Fuck if I know.”

The Sunshine Bombs kept on pushing and shoving for ages until finally Sun manage to knock Hau off Kiawe’s shoulders.

He quickly posed, pointing one finger to the ceiling and flexing his other arm. Hau came to the surface, spitting out water, and conceded defeat.

“Okay, my turn to have Kiawe!” Sun said, dropping off of Ilima, “Moon, Gladion, you two bums better join in on this one!”

Moon rolled her eyes at him. “I didn’t know how to play. I wanted to make sure I knew what was and wasn’t allowed.” As she lowered herself into the water, she scowled, “And, by the way, rude! Nobody asked if I wanted Kiawe as my partner!”

Sun had already climbed onto the older boy’s shoulders. “Too late!” he said, beaming, “You had your chance and you lost it, Moony!”

Moon groaned before looking at Gladion. He only shrugged and lowered himself so she could climb up. It was really awkward, once Moon thought about it. It probably would have been awkward no matter who she was paired with.

“All set?” he asked. When she said yeah, Gladion stood back up and Moon had to hold onto his head to keep her balance.

“Shit,” she hissed, “Sorry.” He only blew his bangs out of his face. “I’m probably going to lose bad.”

“You bet your ass you are!” Sun declared, pointing at her, “Kiawe and I are gonna destroy you two ninnies!”

“Ninnies?”

Hau called for them to start and the pushing and shoving started. Sun kept splashing water at her, trying to loosen her grip on Gladion. Their little match didn’t last anywhere near as long as Sun and Hau’s. Sun kicked at her and Kiawe yanked at Gladion’s shirt, and she fell backwards.

When she came back up Sun was proudly flexing and cheering again. Hau was whooping and congratulating his best friend.

“Get dunked on!” Sun shouted, still sitting on Kiawe’s shoulders.

Gladion was adjusting his shirt, but he looked over at Moon anyway. “You were already kind of falling before we even started,” he said.

“Yeah, I know. It was fun though.”

“I told you it was fun, Moon!” Hau said, splashing his way over to her, “Wasn’t I right?”

Moon nodded. “Yeah, you were.”

Entering the room for Battle Tactics left Moon startled. The room was overrun with strange purple looking Meowth. There had to be at least twelve of them.

“What’s going on?” she asked the guys, hoping one of them might know.

“He brought his fucking cats,” Gladion said, sounding mildly annoyed.

Moon looked at one of the Meowth, which had walked over to look at her. “These are Nanu’s?”

“Yeah! Aren’t they cute!?” Acerola bounded over to the four of them and picked the Meowth up off the ground. “Uncle’s got a soft spot for these little guys!”

There were Meowth lounging all around the room. It reminded Moon of being at her grandmother’s house. “I mean, I knew he had Meowth, but I didn’t realize he had quite so many…”

Ilima was scratching the Meowth Acerola was holding with a happy smile on his face. “What a cutie.”

Nanu explained once everyone was in the room. “These guys all have to go get shots after this and I didn’t feel like leaving them in my car during class. They shouldn’t cause any trouble. Just leave them alone and they won’t bug ya.”

He was having them all read about famous tag team battlers from the Hoenn region. Moon was writing the occasional note, reading the book with Gladion. He held it in between them as best he could, flipping through pages only when she said she was done reading them.

“Do you really need to take notes?” he asked after a while, “Wouldn’t you learn better just from battling?”

“I’m only taking notes on things that are important. Like those two twins who made sure they each had ground types before using Sandstorm,” Moon told him with a frown, “If I don’t write things down I don’t really remember them. Which actually reminds me…” She looked at her hand and saw the note she had written earlier was mostly smudged out. “Can I borrow your marker again?”

“What do you even need oil for?”

“Didn’t you see how much my locker stuck this morning? Thanks,” Moon took the marker from him and re-wrote her reminder, “One of these days I’m going to try and open it and it’s just going to be completely stuck shut.”

One of Nanu’s Meowth wandered over to Moon again. She happily pulled it into her lap and began scratching behind its ears just like she did with her mom’s Meowth. It quickly started purring and fell asleep in her lap.

“Really seems to like you,” Mina commented, walking over to the two of them, “Nanu’s Meowth aren’t usually so trusting.”

Moon smiled up at her. “My mom has a Meowth back home, so I know how to handle them.”

Mina pulled out her phone and when Moon made a confused face, she said, “Just look back down at the Meowth. I want a photo so I can paint this later.”

The little cat Pokemon stayed in her lap for the rest of the class. Moon didn’t have the heart to move it, even when her leg fell asleep and began to hurt it was tingling so badly. Mina had noticed the face she was making and asked what was wrong.

When Moon told her, she said simply, “Just move it off, then.”

Both Moon and Gladion looked offended by the statement. “Mina, you don’t just move a sleeping Pokemon, how could even suggest that?” Moon asked, one hand on her chest.

Mina shrugged. “I push my Pokemon off me and they never seem to get mad…”

“No,” Moon said flatly, “You just don’t do that.”

Mina saw Gladion nod after Moon said that and frowned. “Don’t tell me you of all people agree with her about this…”

“Whenever Type:Null falls asleep on me I resign myself to my fate,” he said. Moon gushed as she pictured Gladion’s massive doglike Pokemon squishing him and falling asleep. It sounded adorable and she wanted to see it.

Class let out and Moon still didn’t have it in her to move Nanu’s Meowth. She saw him walk over to her with a smirk on his face. “Looks like you’ve been trapped,” he said.

“Yup.”

He carefully picked the purple cat up and cradled it in his arms. Moon tried to push herself to stand, but by this point both of her legs had fallen asleep ages ago, and she physically couldn’t get up on her own.

She groaned and looked at Gladion. He raised an eyebrow down at her. Moon held her arms up toward him and said a pathetic sounding, “Help.”

The grumpy blond sighed before taking her wrists and yanking her up to a sort of standing position. Moon wobbled and looked down at her feet. For a split second she couldn’t even feel them, and then the stabbing pain of the blood flow returning hit her. She flinched hard and fell into Gladion.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.”

“This is why you should’ve just pushed it off of you,” Mina said next to her, arms folded across her chest.

Moon would have responded if she wasn’t biting her lip and hissing with discomfort. Gladion looked over at Kiawe, Acerola, and Ilima. “Kiawe, can you carry Moon to her locker?”

“No!” Moon quickly jumped away from all of them. She was wobbly, but she was standing, “No no! I can walk just fine on my own!” She had to put her hand against the wall for support, though, which weakened her argument. All of her friends gave her a scrutinizing look. “I’m serious! I’ll be fine!”

“All right, but if you complain once, Kiawe’s carrying you,” Gladion said.

Moon managed to make it to her locker with her dignity still intact.Gladion leaned against Sun’s while she put stuff away she wouldn’t need over the weekend. They were meeting Lillie there, too, so once she was done, Moon leaned against her own locker to wait.

Sun was walking to his locker and noticed them. “Alola!” he greeted with his dopey smile. Gladion moved to the other side of Moon without a word. “What are you two waiting for?”

“Lillie,” Moon answered, “She’s going to be watching us train for Battle Tactics.”

“Aw, man, that sounds cool,” Sun said, “I wish I didn’t have work. I would totally join you.”

“Do you really have three part time jobs?” Moon had been meaning to ask that all week.

Gladion scoffed. “Try six.”

Moon gawked at Sun. “Why in the ever loving fuck would you do six jobs at once?”

“I’m trying to raise up money,” he said matter of factly, “Got some big plans, ya know?”

“With you, I’m sure.” Moon said, folding her arms. Moon noticed a familiar head of green hair, and separated her arms to wave. “Alola, Mallow.”

Mallow smiled. “Alola! You two getting ready to go train?” She had her hands on her hips.

“We’re waiting for Lillie first,” Gladion replied before Moon could.

“Oh, that makes sense. She gonna come watch?” Mallow asked. Moon nodded and the green haired girl asked, “Could I come too? I’d love to see how it goes.”

“Well, I don’t mind,” Moon said, “How about you, Gladion?” The blond only shrugged, looking away from them.

“The Edgelord lives up to his reputation,” Sun said, shutting his locker, “Too cool to really answer, eh bud?”

“Shut up and go to work,” Gladion snapped. Sun said his goodbyes and hurried out of the building. Once Lillie showed up their group of four went out to the little grassy field where Nanu usually held outdoor classes. Lillie and Mallow sat together doing homework and braiding each other’s hair, and Moon and Gladion practiced moves and combos. They each used their own Pokemon as their opponents. That way all four of them could get some training in.

They were working really well together until Lillie sneezed and Moon’s Rowlet accidentally hit Type:Null. Moon swore, told her Pokemon to stop, and he rushed to his Pokemon’s side.

“Shit, I’m sorry Gladion! Is it okay?” Moon hurried over to see for herself.

Gladion was already treating the cuts his Pokemon had and offering it some berries. Lillie and Mallow rushed over too, both clearly worried. “I’m so sorry!” Lillie wailed, ‘That was all my fault! I just couldn’t hold it in! I’m sorry!”

Null stood up once Gladion was done tending to it and it walked around a bit, showing them that it was fine. Moon heard Gladion sigh. “It’s all right,” he said, standing upright, “It was an accident. Everything’s fine.”

“You’re not mad?” Moon asked, briefly noting that her Rowlet had rested himself up on her head.

Gladion looked at her. “No, I’m not. Null is fine. There’s nothing to be mad about.”

Moon heard Mallow mutter to herself, “That’s a relief.”


	6. Painting Days and Sick Days

                Mina’s art studio was surprisingly big. When Moon heard the word little, she expected like broom closet size. This room was almost as big as their Battle Tactics classroom.

                When she got there, she found Ilima was already inside with Mina. He waved at her, giving her that too-cute smile of his, and helped Mina move some fairly big lights over in front of a wall with blue paint on it.

                “Hey guys,” Moon said, “Anything I can help with?”

                Mina looked up at her. “Well, for starters, you can change into the blue dress over there.” She pointed to some pale blue fabric over top of a stool a ways behind her.

                Moon went and picked it up. It felt soft and smooth. “You already picked out the dress? You didn’t even want to try another color?”

                “I’ve had the outfit planned out since the beginning of the week,” she said, plugging one of the lights into the wall, “Even before Mallow suggested red I knew what I wanted you to wear.”

                There was only a small kitchenette and a little washroom in the space. Moon hurried into the washroom to change. She saw there was dried paint all over the sink, usually in the shape of hand prints. There was dried paint everywhere really. When she walked back out she saw there was essentially a trail of paint splatter leading from where Mina’s easel sat to the door to the washroom and the exit.

                When Moon made it to Mina and Ilima, she stood there waiting. Mina looked at her and immediately frowned. Snapping her fingers, she said, “Mm, mm. Nope. No bra. Go take it off.” She pointed back at the washroom door. Moon was a little surprised by the order, but she didn’t argue.

                She was kind of embarrassed that Ilima had been there to hear it, but when he noticed the glance she sent his way, he said, “Hey, listen Moon. I have drawn and painted dozens upon dozens of naked models. Nothing that happens involving even partial nudity fazes me anymore.”

                Moon looked at him funny. “You’ve really drawn dozens?”

                “Yes,” Ilima said, “And at least five of them were old, wrinkly men. Trust me, I wouldn’t even bat an eye if Mina asked you to be naked.” Moon shuddered at the thought. She was thankful in that moment that she didn’t want to be an artist.

                Mina had Moon situate herself in a nice, cushiony chair with a darker blue cloth draped over it and then began placing flowers on and around her. She pulled over a white block thing and set some draping flowers of top of that. She stepped back and looked at her scene before frowning and fiddling around with the lights. Ilima was just watching with a big smile on his face. Mina went and tied a white ribbon around Moon’s neck, and then determined she liked the set-up.

                “If you need to stretch out or anything, just feel free to do so. Just try to keep relatively the same position if you can.”

                Moon nodded, staring off in the direction Mina had told her to look. She sat there for what must have been thirty minutes before she asked if Mina could play some music.

                “Huh?” Mina looked up and then smiled. “Oh yeah, I forgot. Ilima, you wanna play something? You can pick this time.”

                The pink haired boy plugged a device into a little stereo system and eventually chose songs from those old movies they had been talking about yesterday. Moon couldn’t help herself but to laugh when he did that.

                “Fucking nerd,” she said. Ilima only 'humph'ed and returned to watching Mina work.

                Moon hummed along to the music and let herself daydream. She started thinking about the training from the night before. She kept trying to picture better ways she and Gladion could combine their skills. He was really good at finding his opponent’s weakness and hitting them where it hurt. Moon was good at defending and blocking opposing blows. If they had been facing each other it would have been a really interesting battle. They were essentially opposite in their battling styles.

                “Hey, Moon.” Ilima’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

                “Yeah?”

                He was leaning forward, smiling at her. “It’s been three hours. You wanna stay and let Mina keep painting you, or do you got some place you need to be?”

                “Oh,” Moon looked at the clock. Had it really been three hours already? “No, I don’t have anywhere to be. I told my mom I would be out for a while. I’ll probably stay for a while longer.”

                Ilima grinned. “Cool, then I’m gonna order us some pizza and once it gets here we can take a break.” He walked off and Moon returned to her pose.

                Only a brief moment later, though, Moon’s phone started going off. All three of them turned to look at it. Ilima walked over and peered down at it.

                “It’s a voicechat request,” he said, “Want me to answer it?”

                Moon groaned. It was probably Sun. “Sure,” she said.

                So Ilima picked it up and hit accept. Lillie’s smiling face greeted him. “Ilima!” she said, “What are you doing with Moon’s phone?”

Moon was surprised not to hear Sun’s voice. “Mina’s still painting her, so Moon let me answer her phone.”

                “Oooh! Lemme see lemme see!” Lillie demanded excitedly. Ilima turned the phone toward Moon. Moon turned her head when Lillie started squealing. “You look so pretty, Moon! Gladion, Gladion, c’mere, c’mere!” Moon could see that the image on Lillie’s end was the ceiling for a moment before Moon saw her yanking her brother into frame. He looked less than thrilled. “Look, look! Doesn’t she look beautiful, Gladion?!”

                Moon offered a small wave before Mina told her to put her hand down. “Do I need to turn my head back?”

                “Not yet,” Mina said, “Working on your shoulders right now.”

                Moon sighed and smiled back at her phone. Lillie was beaming at her, Gladion was just looking from beside her.

                “Well? Doesn’t she look nice?” Lillie asked her brother, still smiling.

                Gladion continued to stare at her. “I guess,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

                Lillie quickly smacked his arm and Moon and Ilima both laughed. “She looks nice and you know it!” Lillie said, pouting, “Don’t be rude! Tell her she looks nice!”

                “You don’t have to, Gladion,” Moon said, “You’re not gonna hurt my feelings.”

                “I think you look lovely,” Ilima said, tilting his head and smiling. “Very ethereal.”

                “Yeah, I guess you look pretty nice,” Gladion said. Moon could see Lillie squeezing him with a hug. “I guess I just don’t really care for blue.”

                Moon could see Lillie huffing and puffing about his way out of the compliment. “Just be nice” she kept saying. In all honesty, Moon didn’t really mind. Super nice and overly friendly just didn’t seem like Gladion’s thing. There was a knock on the door and Ilima chimed that it must be the pizza. He gave Moon her phone and hurried over to pay.

                Mina set her supplies down and wiped her hand across her forehead, leaving a nice big streak of blue.

                “Aw, I didn’t even notice the ribbon around your neck, Moon! You look so pretty!” Lillie chirped excitedly. Moon smiled down at the pale siblings. Gladion blinked at her a couple of times before he left the frame. “You get back here mister!” Moon could vaguely hear him respond to her in the background. “You do not have training you need to do, you liar! You get back here and talk to our friend! Gladion! Hey!” Lillie sighed, shaking her head. “I’m sorry about him.”

                “It’s fine,” Moon said, smiling, “I’m starting to learn that’s just the way he is.” They only got to talk a little bit before Ilima brought the food over and they hung up. Moon wanted to look at the painting in progress, but Mina told her if she did, she would throw it out immediately.

                Moon stayed and let her paint her for an extra two hours before she decided she probably should head home. Ilima and Mina said their goodbyes and let her leave.

                The next day was pretty similar. Moon sat where she was told and listened to the music Ilima picked out. About an hour in she got a voicechat request from Hau, which Ilima answered again.

                “Lillie told me you looked nice, so I wanted to see for myself!” he said. Ilima showed him and Hau made an O shape with his mouth before cheering. “You look fantastic! Oh, man, you’re like some sort of fairy or something!”

                Moon found his compliments very sweet. Hau demanded he see how Mina’s painting was going and Moon could hear him clapping and praising how nice it looked.

                Hau chatted with Ilima for a long time after that. He was thinking of going and getting Malasadas. And then all at once Mina set her brushes down and exhaled loudly.

                “It’s done!” she said, messy hands going to her hips.

                Moon scrambled up out of her seat almost immediately. When she went and looked, she felt her face heat up. It was beautiful! She didn’t see herself looking at it at all. She saw someone who looked like a water fairy. It definitely didn’t make her think of herself.

                “Ahh! It’s so good!” Hau was shouting from the phone, “It looks just like her! You did a great job Mina!” Ilima praised it as well.

                Mina smiled at them. “I think I’ll put this one up on Monday.”

                “Put it up?” Moon asked, confused, “What do you mean?”

                “Mina has a dedicated spot on the wall outside the Principal’s office where she’s allowed to hang any of her paintings she wants. Just one at a time,” Ilima explained.

                Moon blinked. “A-and you’re going to put me up on the wall?” she stammered as she spoke, “Where everyone can see it?” Mina nodded. Moon put her hand to her head. “Sun’s never going to let up once he sees it…”

                Hau was laughing, Moon could hear him. “You’re one hundred percent right! He’s gonna be all over you like a Mareanie on a Corsola!”

                Not wanting to deal with that, Moon did the only reasonable thing she could think of. She pretended to be sick and didn’t go to school on Monday.

                “You really don’t feel well, huh?” her mother was testing with the back of her hand to see if Moon’s head felt warm.

                “Stomach feels queasy,” Moon lied. Her mother nodded and left, returning a little while later to put a waste basket by her daughter’s bed. Her mom had work, but she let Moon know that if she needed anything she would answer her phone no matter what.

                Moon took the opportunity to nap for 2 hours. She woke up right around when lunch would have been at school. She sat up, noticing Meowth had come in and climbed onto her at some pint while she was sleeping. Moon happily pet her before her phone went off with a text.

                It was from Sun. He must have gotten her number from her listed contacts online. “How come you’re not in today?” was what he wrote. Moon wrote back that her stomach didn’t feel well. “Really?”

                Moon rolled her eyes. He probably knew she was faking it. Sun seemed the type to fake sick to get out of tests or something. He had probably heard every excuse in the book.

                So she asked him how everything was going today. He wrote back almost immediately. “Hau’s cried twice already because you’re not here.” Moon smiled reading that, even though she felt bad.

                “Has he really?”

                “You want proof? I got pictures. Tears, Moon. Tears.” Sun sent a photo of Hau slumped over the cafeteria table with the saddest look on his face. The green haired boy actually did have tears streaming down his face in the picture. Moon could hardly believe it. “He feels a little better since I told him you said you just didn’t feel good. He thought you left forever.”

                Hau was ridiculous, but Moon couldn’t stop smiling. That was so precious.

                “The others say they hope you feel better.”

                Moon felt a little guilty, but wrote back, “Thanks.”

                She then took another nice long nap.


	7. Give The Boy Some Space

When Moon went to school the next day, Hau actually physically tackled her to the ground before she even reached her locker. About fifty students in the hallway turned and looked. Moon felt so embarrassed.

That is, until Hau started talking. He was wailing. “I thought you were gonna move back to Kanto! I was so worried I’d never see you again! You can’t get sick like that again!”

Moon laughed, carefully pushing him off of her. “Hau, easy,” she said, “Still not feeling a hundred percent.”

Hau was crying again. Moon could not believe it. “Hau, come on, relax, I’m back, okay? I’m not gonna leave.”

“You would think the world was ending, the way he acted.” Moon and Hau both looked up, seeing Mina standing there smiling at them. “Not even Malasadas could cheer him up.”

Moon laughed, putting a hand to her heart. “Aw, Hau! You really like me that much?”

Hau jumped forward and hugged her, still crying. “Yes!! We’re Malasada buddies!” Moon sat there awkwardly patting him on the back for a little while. Sun showing up is what broke Hau out of his waterworks.

“All right, all right, hug time’s over,” he said, yanking Hau up by his backpack, “Everyone else is gonna want to see her, too, Hau.”

“I’m just so happy!”

Moon received hugs from Lillie and Lana when she got to English, just not as excessive as the hug from Hau.

“Are you feeling better?” Lana asked.

“Yeah,” Moon said, “Still not perfect, but a lot better than yesterday.” She saw Sun squinting at her, but ignored him. “I took like eight naps. Meowth slept on me all day.”

Lillie huffed beside her. Moon gave her a confused look, raising an eyebrow. “Gladion does that even when he isn’t sick,” she said, shaking her head, “If it’s a weekend I can usually expect to either find him training or sleeping.”

Sun had sat down in his desk, but he asked loudly enough that all of them turned to look at him, “So you’re saying you don’t try to sleep as much as you can on weekends, Lillie?” Lillie shook her head no.

“Hey,” Moon suddenly thought of something, “Sun, didn’t you say you knew Gladion before this year?”

“Yeah, we got paired up at that festival. I told you about that last week, Moon.”

“Well, how come you knew him and not Lillie?”

Sun rolled his hand around in the air as he answered. “I’ve had a couple gym classes and stuff with him since that festival. I’ve never had a class with Lillie. And since he’s so fucking Edgy, he never told me he had a sister and we never really hung out for me to ever ask.” Sun sighed. “He’s never really liked me.”

“He never really likes anybody,” Lana said, ignoring the pout from Lillie, “He just keeps to himself.”

“Can I say something about all this?” Lillie asked, looking mildly annoyed.

Sun smile. “Not if you’re gonna try and say he isn’t the edgiest fuck, you can’t.” Lillie huffed at him, hands on her hips. Lana and Moon both laughed and agreed with Sun.

“You’re all horrible,” Lillie muttered, sitting down.

Moon and Lana walked to breeding together after English. The blue haired girl was telling Moon about the fishing she had done over the weekend. “I caught three Feebass,” she said, “Usually I can’t get them to bite unless it’s raining, but they just seemed really hungry.”

“Weird,” Moon commented, “How many Magikarp did you hook?”

Lana groaned a little. “Twelve, I think.”

“Well, well, well, looks like somebody’s feeling better!” Moon smiled at the sound of Mallow’s voice. She turned and grinned at her friend. “How ya doin’ Moony?”

“Better than yesterday.” Moon was content to just keep up the lie that she hadn’t felt well. The only one who seemed to question it so far had been Sun. “Hau freaking tackled me in the halls, earlier. I’m pretty sure I’m gonna have like eleven bruises later.”

Mallow laughed, patting Moon on the back. “He missed you! That’s just how he shows his love!”

“By tackling sick people to the ground?”

“Yep!”

During breeding their professor was looking at the Pokemon they had and explaining to the class which ones were in what were called “egg groups.” He explained that it only meant they could physically produce an egg when paired.

“Like, for example, Moon,” he said, motioning to her, “Your Abra is in the Human-Like egg group, but another Pokemon, like say, Kiawe’s Marowak, is not. So they would not be successful in producing an egg,”

Moon frowned. It made sense, but why would she try to breed them in the first place? It just seemed… weird.

Sophocles looked surprised to see Moon in math. “I thought you were sick,” he said.

“I was,” Moon replied, “Still kinda am. Not feeling one hundred percent. Couldn’t eat during Home Ec.”

“I got to eat all her stuff!” Hau chimed, leaning over his desk with a grin.

Sophocles smirked. “I can imagine,” he said, looking at Hau. He turned back to Moon, though. “I saw the painting Mina did of you. It’s really nice. She made you look real pretty.”

“You sayin’ she’s not always pretty, Sophy?” Sun teased.

Moon swatted at him, reaching over Lillie. “I appreciate the compliment, Sophocles, but I think Mina would appreciate it more.”

“Oh, yeah, I already told her,” he said, “I saw her earlier at our lockers. She seemed really proud of it.”

Lillie had her hands up by her chin. “Ooh! I wanna see it! You looked so pretty in the outfit, Moon! I have to see the finished product!” Hau was nodding his head in agreement and assuring her it was very very pretty.

“And none of you thought to send me a picture?” Sun asked, looking thoroughly upset, “What the hell?!”

Moon smacked him at the same time Lillie did. They both smiled at each other after it happened. “Aw, we’re bonding,” Moon hummed at the blonde girl. Sun stuck his tongue out.

When Moon arrived at lunch, she got two very happy greetings from Ilima and Acerola. They both wanted her to sit in between them.

Acerola gave her a nice side-hug once she was seated. “Did you hurl?” she asked.

Moon looked surprised, but everyone else just sighed or shook their head. “Uh, no, I didn’t… I got close to it a couple times, but I didn’t throw up.”

“Aw, man!” Acerola pouted and folded her arms across her chest, “What kind of junk is that?”

Ilima eventually pulled her attention away from the purple haired girl with questions of his own. After about ten minutes, though, the whole table was interrupted by Lillie huffing and puffing and complaining. Gladion was skipping again.

“He needs to eat! This isn’t healthy!” she was saying to Hau, who was sitting next to her, “I don’t understand why he does this!”

Hau offered Lillie a few comforting pats on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Lil, he’s probably just reading in the library again.”

“Well if he is, I’m gonna go and drag him in here!” Lillie said, starting to stand up.

Mina stopped her. “Lillie,” she said, face completely stoic and serious, “I know he’s your brother and you care about him, but let him have his space. If I’m working on a piece, I don’t want everyone I know bothering me. Yes, make sure he eats, but be reasonable.” Ilima nodded quickly, agreeing with her.

Lillie gave up, sitting down and huffing unhappily. She pouted for a little while after that.

Art class went really well after that. They were finally allowed to just paint something they wanted to paint. Lana immediately jumped up and grabbed all the shades of blue she possibly could. Sophocles had sat there for a while trying to figure out what he wanted to paint before getting grays and yellows.

“Mine’s gonna suck,” he said, “But if I can make it look a little like my Togedemaru, she’ll be happy.”

“You’ll have to show me,” Moon said, “I’ve never seen a Togedemaru before.”

“What are you thinking of painting, Moon?” Lana asked, dragging her brush across her canvas.

Moon frowned. “I’m not really sure. I’m not very good at this stuff…” She looked through a couple of the books in the room, but nothing was really striking her interest.

“Perhaps you could paint a portrait of a person?” Ilima offered while he walked the room. He was helping everyone who didn’t know what to do by giving them ideas. “Or perhaps a Pokemon?”

That seemed like a good idea… What to paint… Moon took out her phone and searched up Alolan Raichu. They were just so cute. It probably wouldn’t end up good, but she could at least try.

Their professor told tem to make sure to remember some sort of background. Lana was all set there, painting water, but Sophocles and Moon groaned, because they had forgotten.

When they got done, they washed off their hands and headed off. Moon went and changed for swimming, tying her hair up so it was out of the way. When she got out into the pool, the guys were all out there already.

“Copying Mina, eh, Moony?” Sun shouted as she walked toward them.

Confused, Moon looked at her reflection and saw she had several orange, yellow, and white paint smears all over her face. She could see her cheeks going pink, too. She hadn’t even realized she did that!

She walked over to her friends, feeling embarrassed. “I didn’t notice,” she said, holding her towel in front of herself.

“I should have told you, I’m sorry Moon!” Ilima quickly apologized, “I’m just so used to Mina not caring about it!”

Moon went and set her towel down after trying to wipe some of the paint off with it. When she turned around she saw Gladion looking at her. She offered him a small wave.

“I thought Sun said you were sick.” His arms were crossed in front of the skull-print top he was wearing.

“I was,” Moon said, “But I felt a lot better today so I figured I would try and come in.”

Sun put an arm around Gladion’s shoulders and Moon saw the blond visibly flinch. “If you ask me, I think she was just fakin’ it. Whaddyou think Gladdy?”

Gladion pushed his arm off. “It’s not really any of my business what she was doing.”

“Ahh, you’re no fun,” Sun whined, waving at him dismissively.

Hau walked over to Moon. “So what were you painting today?”

Moon rubbed the back of her neck. “Um, it’s supposed to be a Raichu, but so far it’s just looking like a big blob.”

Hau beamed at her. “I have a Raichu! He’s the cutest! You should let him be your model!”

“Maybe… I could use a photo for reference,” she said. They all went and got into the water once the professor told them to, and they pretty much goofed off the whole class.

Moon was lounging on the edge at one point when Gladion swam over and joined her, resting his elbows up. “Hey,” Moon said. She looked over at the other four and saw they were trying to tag each other, mostly Kiawe swimming away from the others too fast for them to catch him, and were making quite a commotion. Moon grinned. “Not interested in getting caught up in that hurricane?”

“Not particularly,” he replied, pushing his wet bangs out of his eye.

Moon watched the others for a little bit before she said, “Lillie wasn’t happy you skipped lunch again.” She heard him groan at that. “Mina stood up for you, though.”

“Really? There’s a surprise…”

Moon made a face at him. “It’s not that surprising. She said she likes having her own space when she’s working, so she figured if you were off reading you wanted your own space.” Now Gladion made a face at her. Moon smiled at the confused look on his face. “There are a few of us who understand you.”

Gladion looked away from her. “Who understands me…?”

“Well, I mean… They care about you,” Moon said. Now Gladion turned back to look at her again. “You know… Lillie, Hau, Kiawe, Ilima, and me. We all care about you.”

Gladion sighed, turning his head away again. “You don’t even know me… You’ve only been here for a week.”

Moon watched him, a sad frown on her face. “Just because I haven’t been here that long doesn’t mean I don’t care. I mean, you saw Hau. He was crying because I was sick for a day.”

“That’s part of why I skipped lunch,” Gladion said, watching the green haired boy swim around, “If you weren’t going to be here again I wouldn’t want to be there listening to him…” Moon was about to talk but he spoke over her. “And that’s just Hau. He doesn’t count. He cares too much for his own good.”

She huffed, watching Hau now as well. There was more she wanted to say, but if she said it she would probably sound like Lillie. Or worse, like a mom. She didn’t want Gladion getting more annoyed. Then she’d never get anything out of him.

“Did we do any battling yesterday with Nanu?” she asked.

“Hm?” Gladion blinked at her, “Sorry, what’d you say?”

“I asked if we did any battling yesterday.”

“Oh,” he shifted his weight around, “No, he’s gonna start them tomorrow.”

“Are we gonna practice again tonight before that?” Moon was leaning toward him, hoping he wasn’t going to tune her out again.

“Uh, yeah, I guess we could. I can text Lillie after this and let her know.”

“Does she need to ride home with you? What if she can’t stay after and watch this time?” Moon asked.

Gladion grimaced. “She doesn’t need to, but our mother…” He paused and Moon wondered if he had started daydreaming or something. She was about to tap him on the shoulder when he finally spoke again. “No, it should be fine. As long as we let her know, she shouldn’t mind if I come home by myself.”

“You could always come spend the night at my house,” Moon offered, “We have a guest room and I’m sure my mom wouldn’t mi-“

He cut her off immediately. “No,” he almost shouted, “No, no. I… I don’t think we’ll be training that long.”

Moon was confused by the outburst. “Um, okay, but can we at least go back to my house after school today? My mom’s going to be out really late and I just want to make sure Meowth gets fed and goes outside…”

Gladion frowned. “Why do I have to go? Can’t you just do that after we train?”

“Well, I mean, I could, but I don’t know how long we’ll be training. We have a pretty big yard, so we could definitely work it out…” Moon fidgeted a little. “We don’t have to. It’s up to you.”

Hau swam over toward the two of them. Gladion shooed him away. “Not now, Hau, we’re trying to plan more for Battle Tactics.”

“Okay,” the green haired boy replied, “Lemme know when you’re done, though, cuz I wanted to talk to you two a bit today.”

“Look,” Gladion said to Moon, “I understand you want to take care of it, but I don’t know how long I would be able to stay if we went to your house…”

Moon nodded. “Okay, you’ve got plans for tonight,” she said, “That’s fine. You just had to say that.” Gladion only grimaced in reply. After that he went quiet and Hau was able to talk to them. He asked Moon all sorts of questions about whatever the heck he wanted.

After all of her classes were done, Moon walked to her locker with Gladion. She stopped the second she stood in front of it and scowled.

“What’s up?” the taller blond asked.

“I forgot about the oil,” Moon grumbled, reaching up to start twirling the lock, “Can’t believe it. I didn’t even remember this morning. I have such a shit memory.”

“Didn’t you write it down?”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t in school yesterday, and it smudged off and I just forgot again…” Moon slammed her locker shut in her annoyance.

“Would it be better if I just brought you some oil or something?” Gladion asked, hands in his pockets, “Of the two of us, I actually think I could remember this.”

Moon pouted at him. “Are you saying there’s no way I could remember?”

“How many days have you forgotten so far?”

She deflated. “Like, six…”

“I’ll just bring it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ey guys, not gonna be able to update for a few days after this. going somewhere that doesn't have internet.


	8. Sun Plays Matchmaker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry there was a dry spell there. I didn't have internet for a few days.

Moon had been concerned by Gladion’s behavior during PE the entire time they trained together. He had seemed… scared. It was a strange moment. If he had plans, she understood, but just the way he had reacted worried her.

He had waved to Lillie when they both saw her leave. The car she drove off in looked really fancy to Moon. Was their family rich or something? She could maybe peg Lillie as being wealthy, but Moon hadn’t really pictured that with Gladion. How could someone with the money to afford an expensive car like that let their son get so scratched up?

Was that why he was scared? Did he get hurt a lot and he was expecting his mother wouldn’t want to leave him alone at the risk of him getting hurt again? Moon wished she knew, but she didn’t want to ask. He had shut that down before. So she just trained with him and tried not to look worried.

Moon was about to order her Rowlet to attack when her phone went off, making her jump. She thought she had set it on silent! Gladion raised a brow at her from across the grassy field and Moon felt her face heat up. Her ringtone! It was Lugia’s Song, but with the way Gladion was looking at her she worried it was stupid.

She quickly answered, surprised when it was her mom.She was checking to see if she had gone home yet to take care of Meowth. “I-I can’t yet, Mom, I’m training with Gladion. He doesn’t have a lot of time and we needed to practice before tomorrow. I promise I’ll be home soon, but this was the only way we could work around our schedules!”

Moon saw Gladion checking his phone while she talked with her mom. He recalled Type:Null and Moon had a feeling she knew what that meant. As soon as she hung up, he said, “I need to go.”

“I kinda figured,” she sighed. She recalled Rowlet as well and walked to pick up her backpack.

He picked up his own and apologized. “Sorry we didn’t get to train very much,” he said, slinging his pack over one shoulder.

“It’s all right,” she said, “We’re probably ready for tomorrow anyway. I’ll see you then, kay?”

“Yeah,” and with that, he quickly walked off the way their car had driven earlier. Moon watched him go with a little frown.

When she got to her house Meowth practically jumped into her arms. Moon let her run around in their yard, enjoying seeing the little thing getting some energy out.

When she stopped to scratch her claws against the tree in their front yard, Moon walked over to Meowth. “Have you ever thought about battling, Meowth?” she asked the little cat.

In response, Meowth yawned and started licking one of her paws.

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’ then,” she said, picking up the little thing with a smile and bringing her inside.

Her phone had new messages from the others. Lana was asking her about their English assignment. Ilima was sending her pictures of Kiawe practicing. Sun and Hau were both begging her to go get Malasadas with them again. Moon chose to look at the Kiawe pics first.

“Why were there no guys back home in Kanto who looked like this, Meowth?” she asked, showing her one picture of Kiawe lifting two Marowak onto his arms. Meowth only yawned. “Not impressed, huh?”

Moon replied to Lana after that. Moon hadn’t re-watched her movie yet, but she was planning on it. The two talked for a while. Ilima would occasionally send her another pic, until the last one where it was clear that Kiawe had gotten hold of the camera. His face was close and he was grinning.

Moon laughed. “Having fun?” she wrote.

“Of course!” was the response.

For dinner, Moon had ended up just making some rice and vegetables. Meowth had tried to swipe it at first, until she realized there was no meat. Then she lost interest.

Her dinner got interrupted by a call from Hau. Videochat, of course. She answered and wasn’t really surprised when Sun was on screen with him.

“Howdy Moon!”

She smiled at them. “Don’t you two ever have anything to do?”

“Not me!” Hau said before turning and ruffling Sun’s hair, “But Sun’s always busy!”

“Is he? With the amount of times he calls me, I don’t know if I believe it.”

Sun stuck his tongue out at her. “Ha, ha, very funny. How was training with the Edgelord?”

Moon rolled her eyes at the nickname, but stopped herself halfway. “Have you guys ever been to Lillie and Gladion’s place?” she asked, looking back at them.

The two boys looked at each other before looking back to her. “No,” they both said in unison.

“Why?” Sun asked.

“Well,” Moon set her plate down, “It’s just… When we talked during PE he had mentioned his mom and I wondered if you guys knew what she was like.”

“I’ve only ever heard what Lillie’s mentioned,” Hau said. When Moon gave him a wide eyed, expectant look, he went, “Oh, right.” Sun face-palmed beside him. “Well, uh, all I’ve heard from her is that her mother usually picks her clothes for her and she doesn’t like them staying out late.”

Moon frowned. Maybe that was what Gladion had been worried about? She probably wouldn’t ask, but she definitely would wonder.

She ran a little bit late the next morning for school. She hadn’t meant to, she just couldn’t find one of her shoes. Turns out, Meowth had taken it.

Pushing into the building, Moon was startled to see Gladion leaning against the lockers near hers. She walked over to him. “Hey… Gladion…”

He turned his head to look at her before smiling and holding up a little oil can.

Moon inhaled, hand going up toward her mouth. “Shit, I totally forgot about that!”

“And this is why I said it would be better if I brought it,” he said, handing it to her. She thanked him before tipping it onto the hinges of her locker. Once she opened it, she poured some on the inside of the hinges as well. She then swung the door back and forth a few times experimentally. “Why don’t you close it again and see if it still sticks when you open it?”

“Good idea,” she said, holding the oil can toward him but not looking to be sure where. She didn’t see, but she had basically shoved it directly into his chest. He took it back from her and she tested the door. It stuck when she opened it.

“What am I doing wrong?” she asked, looking at Gladion.

He didn’t answer, he just leaned forward and oiled up the edge of the door and the frame it fit into. “Try it now.”

When she did, it finally opened without jamming. She couldn’t help but grin. “Thanks!” Part of her thought about hugging him for a moment, but the other part stopped her. Gladion didn’t really seem like a hugger. That would be Hau.

“No prob,” he said, “I’ll see you later, then.”

Sun had his hat on again during class that morning. Moon swiped it from him and put it on Lana’s head instead. At first he had shouted ‘hey’ but he stopped. “Actually, that hat looks pretty cool on you, Lana.”

Lana smiled. “Does that mean I get to keep it?”

“Not on your life!” He snatched it back and yanked it back onto his head.

Moon turned her attention to Lillie. “Gladion made it home okay after our training right?”

Lillie frowned. “Did you not see him at your locker? He said he was waiting for you. Did he ditch again?”

Waving her hands in front of her, Moon said, “Oh, no, no! He was there! I just didn’t get to ask him, so I thought I would ask you.”

“Good,” Lillie said with a puff of her cheeks, “He’d better not bail on you. I won’t let him hear the end of it if he does.” Moon laughed and Lillie frowned at her. “I’m serious! He actually seems to like hanging out with you! He’s finally got a friend that he can stand being around! I don’t want him messing this up!”

Moon stared at Lillie after that, and Sun leaned over her desk with a laugh. “Ooooh, you sayin’ the Edgy Fuck has a crush on Moony?”

Moon hit him for that and Sun recoiled with a little hiss. “Lillie, you don’t have to answer that,” Moon said.

“Killjoy,” Sun grumbled, re-adjusting himself in his seat.

“I’m just happy that he’s finally trying to make friends,” Lillie said quietly, not looking at Moon.

Kiawe asked Moon what she thought of the pictures when she got to Breeding.

“I liked them,” Moon replied, frowning at Lana’s devilish smirk. “You looked like you were enjoying yourself.”

Lana elbowed Moon playfully, and Moon frowned at her harder. Kiawe seemed oblivious. “I was! Ilima helped tell me when I was doing something wrong, and my Marowak were really getting into it!”

“I didn’t know you had more than one Marowak!”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve got three of them,” Kiawe said, “They’re really great!”

Lana had yanked Moon down to whisper in her ear. “Were the Marowak really what you were looking at?”

Moon was sure she was bright red in the face. “Sh-shut up!”

“You okay Moon?” Mallow asked, “You’re a little bit red.”

“I’m good!”

They were having their first test in math. Moon could see Hau peeking at Sophocles’ paper. He wasn’t even a little bit subtle. How Molayne hadn’t noticed, she didn’t know. Sun was working off of Hau’s test as he worked off Sophocles’. Moon looked at Lillie, who only smiled and shrugged.

“Every test?” Moon whispered. Lillie nodded.

Lunch was… well, weird. When Gladion sat down next to Moon, Sun had started grinning. So far he hadn’t stopped. It had been seven minutes… Still smiling.

“What’s with you, Sun?” Acerola asked, “You act like you just saw a shiny Mimikyu.”

Everyone was looking at him. His smile only got wider.

“Oh, nothing, I’m perfectly fine,” he said. Moon saw him smirking at her and she scowled. Lana and Lillie were the only ones who understood why he was acting like this besides her. “How are you doing, Gladion?”

The pale boy blinked, looking up from the book he was reading, and gave Sun a confused look.

“Fine?” Gladion looked at the others at the table. Basically everyone else looked confused too. “Did I miss something?” he asked Moon and Lillie.

“No,” Moon answered, “Sun’s just being himself.”

Gladion stared at the black haired boy for a moment before nodding and returning to his book.

As soon as they got to art, Ilima and Sophocles were asking about lunch.

“What the hell was all that about?” Sophocles asked.

Lana sighed at the same time Moon did. “Sun’s playing matchmaker,” Moon groaned.

Ilima raised a brow at her. “Matchmaker?”

“He was doing it the other day when he called me too,” Moon said, “He keeps trying to figure out who likes each other.”

Lana finished up for her. “And Sun thinks Gladion likes Moon.”

Sophocles furrowed his brow. “Why would he think something like that?”

“Cuz he’s stupid,” Moon grumbled, “He thinks Ilima likes Mina, too.” Ilima blinked a couple times, cheeks going a little pink, and Moon said, “Or, well, he says you have an ‘artist crush’… Whatever that means.”

Lana gave Moon a few pats on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Moon. I think Sun’s just surprised is all.” The blue haired girl looked at Ilima. “Lillie had said she was happy Gladion was finally making friends and he sorta took it the wrong way.”

Sophocles scratched his head with a frown. “Well, I mean, I guess… Gladion’s never really liked any of us that much before.” He looked at Ilima with a bit of a grimace. “He’s never really hated us though, right?”

“I think Sun’s just overreacting,” Ilima said.

Lana chuckled beside Moon, making everyone turn to look at her. “Can you imagine if he really did like her? Can you even picture Gladion all cute and lovey dovey?” And she started laughing after that, wiping at her eyes with a smile.

Ilima folded his arms across his chest. “I can barely even picture him happy, let alone swooning over someone.” Sophocles nodded in agreement.

“Honestly, out of everyone, I had thought Sun liked you, Moon,” Sophocles said after that.

Moon made a disgusted face at him. “Gross.”

“I thought so too, though,” Lana agreed.

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Moon groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly surprised by the response to this story! Thank you guys so much for all the kind words and the kudos! I was so worried. I haven't written anything in ages... I was afraid I was stuck in writer's block hell.


	9. Put Your Foot In The Door / Hand Holding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're holding hands!?!?!?!!!?!?!?!?!!!!!!

Moon had her hair tied back again after swimming. She was really hoping Battle Tactics would go well. The boys seemed excited, so maybe that meant it would be a good class.

“Think we’ll win again?” Moon asked Gladion.

He shrugged. “Depends who we face,” he said.

“Thanks for the confidence,” Moon groaned, moving to walk next to Kiawe instead.

Gladion blinked at her, but didn't say anything.

Nanu had them all go outside for battling. The first battle was Kiawe and Sina against another group. Water types. Kiawe and Sina lost bad. Really bad. Moon wasn’t even sure she could call it a match. They were wiped out so fast.

Gladion and Moon ended up facing Ilima and Acerola. Ilima sent out his Yungoos and Acerola sent out a Mimikyu. The battle started out messy. Mimikyu used a move that immediately made all three of the other Pokemon confused. She apologized to Ilima, saying that she didn’t mean that.

Gladion and Moon still tried their best to work together. Moon used her Rowlet and had him use Leafage on Yungoos when it tried to bite Type:Null. Gladion ordered Pursuit on Mimikyu, but Null ended up hurting itself instead. The two of them lost simply because of that one move Mimikyu used.

Nanu spoke to them after the battle. Moon wasn’t looking at him at all, though. She was watching Gladion. They had lost. How would he take it?

“Well, I’ve gotta say, that was unexpected,” he started, “Ilima, Acerola, you two seemed a little bit off today. You won, but only off blind luck. And you two,” he said turning his head to Gladion and Moon, “You’ve definitely improved in the area I told you to work, but you could definitely do better. You were each at least trying to work together. But after your Pokemon got confused there wasn’t much you really could do.”

Gladion only nodded and walked off to sit near Kiawe. Moon followed him as quick as she could.

“Honestly, that was just bad luck,” Sina said to them once they were both beside Kiawe. Moon didn’t really know her that well, but she smiled and nodded anyway.

Moon looked at Gladion. He was chewing on his lower lip. Unsure of what to say or do, Moon simply set her hand overtop of his where it rested on his thigh. He twitched, but otherwise didn’t react. He just sat there while more battles went on and Nanu told everyone where they needed to improve.

Class was just about ended, and Nanu was telling everyone they could leave five minutes early and they would finish the battles up tomorrow. Gladion was still sitting there, Moon right next to him. He was staring at Nanu with a set frown on his face.

“Hey, uh, Moon?”

She blinked and looked at him. “Yeah?”

“Can I have my hand back?” He pointedly wiggled his fingers when he asked.

Moon jumped and yanked her hand back. “Oh, sorry!” She held her hands up close to her chest. She was sure her face was bright red. “I…! I, um, sorry, I just…”

Gladion looked at his hand, flexing his fingers a couple of times, before looking back at her. Moon figured he must have seen how red she was, because he looked away with a bit of pink on his cheeks.

“Sorry,” Moon said again, “I just was worried… I uh… Didn’t want you to beat yourself up about this again.”

He looked back at her and his eyes widened a little. “Oh.” He looked down at his legs. “You don’t need to worry about that…”

Moon looked at Ilima, who had walked over to them to see what the holdup was. He shook his head slowly. She would definitely have to ask him about all this soon. He offered her his hand, and she took it with a small smile. Once she was on her feet she turned to Gladion.

He saw her offering her hand and he waved her away. “I can stand up on my own,” he said, pushing her hand away. “It’s bad enough you were holding my hand. I don’t need anymore humiliation in one day.”

“Hey, I would be glad to have a beautiful girl hold my hand,” Ilima said, causing Moon to go even redder than before. She was hiding her face in her hands at this point. Ilima just laughed and rubbed her shoulders with a big smile.

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Gladion said, tucking his hands in his pockets and walking toward the school building.

The two of them waved and said goodbye and as soon as she was sure he was out of earshot, Moon turned to Ilima and asked, “What’s going on?”

He sighed before talking. “I know you’ve seen the scars,” he said, “So you know what’s going on…”

“That isn’t what I meant and you know it,” Moon growled, folding her arms across her chest, “Why can’t I talk to him about that? Can’t I at least tell him I’ve seen them?”

Ilima shook his head. “No, you can’t,” he rubbed his forehead as he spoke, “It’s a touchy subject. Lillie didn’t want anyone to know. She says the whole thing upsets her and her mother too much and they don’t like talking about it… But… You need to know so you don’t do something wrong…” He dropped his hand and exhaled slowly. “Gladion and Lillie’s father vanished eight years ago. No one knows where he went or what happened to him, except for them, and they don’t talk about it.”

He went on, putting a hand on her shoulder, looking her in the eyes pleadingly, “All I know is neither of them dealt well with it. I assume he took it worse than she did and probably blames himself. He’s not sad anymore, at least according to Lillie, but he’s got scars from when he was. Just don’t talk about them. You don’t know what doors you’re going to open up.”

Moon swallowed and nodded a little bit. “All of the scars on him are from that?”

“He says most of them are from trying to train with Null, but I don’t think it would be a good idea to ask…” Ilima explained.

“Right, the door thing…”

“If he wants to open a door on his own, then let him. But don’t try forcing your way in. Sun tried that once. That’s why they don’t get along,” Ilima put his arm around her shoulder and started walking with her toward the building, “I don’t think Sun realizes that’s what he did. He had made a joke about all his scars, asking if he did that to himself to look cool, inadvertently shoving his foot in the door. Gladion didn’t take the intrusion well.”

“I had no idea,” Moon whispered, staring at Ilima as he spoke, “Why did Sun tell me it was because of the festival?”

Ilima smiled sadly. “Like I said, I don’t think he realized he messed up. Sun and Hau are both very cheerful people. Neither of them realize if they accidentally say something that upsets someone else until it’s too late. Sadness is very foreign to them,” he stood with her at her locker as he spoke, watching her gather her belongings, “They’ve tried patching things up with him, but as you’ve probably seen, it’s hard to get Gladion to forget.”

Moon shut her locker with a sigh. “I wish I could help him.”

“Maybe eventually you will,” Ilima hummed, “You’re the first person I’ve really seen him warm up to in a long time. Maybe someday he’ll open a door and let you help him fix things…”

After a little bit of walking out of the building, Moon looked at Ilima. “Do you wanna come over for dinner? I’m sure my mom wouldn’t mind.”

He gave her his signature head tilt and smile. “That sounds lovely!”

When Moon introduced him to her mother, the very first thing her mom did was pinch one of his cheeks and say, “Oh, what a handsome face!”

“Thank you!” Ilima chirped, “Everyone tells me I take after my mother! She’d be very flattered to hear you say that.”

Meowth really seemed to like Ilima. She waltzed right on over once he sat on the couch and curled up in his lap. He took a few pictures of her with his phone, cooing about how precious she was.

Moon and Ilima worked on their homework together. They didn’t have the same assignments, but some of them were similar enough that they both were able to help each other if they needed it. Moon quickly found out Ilima was really good at equations. He used them for battling, he said.

“Kids, dinner’s ready!” Moon’s mother called, interrupting their work. Moon helped lift Meowth off of Ilima without her scratching him, and they both went to sit at the table. “Are you in Moon’s grade?” her mother asked their pink haired guest while they ate.

“No, actually I’m a grade ahead of her, but we’ve got a few classes together,” he answered sweetly, “I always look forward to seeing her at the end of the day.” Moon went a little pink at that and her mother of course gushed over how nice Ilima was.

“My goodness, you sweet sweet boy!” She looked at Moon and teased, “You never told me you found such a catch, sweetie!”

“Moooooooooommmmm!!” Moon buried her face in her hands, sure she must have been as red as a Tomato Berry. Ilima only smiled and hummed cheerfully.

Ilima stayed pretty late into the night. It was already dark when he said he had to go home. Before he left he gave Moon a hug and took her hand, giving it a quick kiss. Her mother didn’t stop squealing about that for the rest of the night.

The next morning, Moon found a disappointment waiting for her. The picture of her Rowlet wasn’t on her locker anymore. Somebody must have stolen it.

“Why the long face?” Sun asked, walking around her to his locker.

“Somebody took the picture of Rowlet off my locker,” Moon grumbled, closing it and pointing to where a small piece of the tape still remained.

Sun squinted at the spot. “Can you take another one?” he asked, closing his own locker and walking with her to English.

“I can, but that one was taken by Hau during our call the other day,” Moon replied, “It’s just not the same.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot you put Rowlet in front of the camera,” Sun mused with a smile, “Hau still wants to steal it.”

“Well he’s gonna have to fight me for it if he does.”

Lillie greeted them happily. “Battle Tactics went well, Moon?” she asked.

Moon frowned, confused. “Um, I mean, not really,” she answered, “Gladion and I lost… Did he tell you we won?”

Now Lillie frowned. “No, he didn’t tell me anything,” she said, “But he didn’t seem like he was in a bad mood, so I assumed you did.”

“Oh, well, nope. Lost. Acerola’s Mimikyu fucked us.”

Sun laughed hard, smacking his desk. “Moon, that mouth!” She frowned at him, but he just kept on laughing. “You swear like a sailor!”

“I don’t swear any more than you do,” Moon argued, folding her arms onto her desk.

Lana spoke up from next to Sun. “No, but you do swear more than Lillie and I.”

“Well you two are just innocent little babies.”

Before Moon really knew it, lunch was upon her. In Home Ec they had been baking again, so she, Hau, Lillie, and Mallow ended up bringing a whole bunch of biscuits to their table.

“Hau and I accidentally added twice the amount of sugar needed,” Lillie explained, “So I guess if you want extra sweet biscuits, you can have ours.” Sun and Hau both immediately grabbed like four each.

Moon was sitting next to Mallow and across from Gladion today. After Lillie poked at him, he eventually took one of the biscuits Mallow and Moon made. Acerola ended up eating at least ten, Sophocles had three, and everyone else had either one or two. Aside from Sun and Hau, who had each hoarded the extra sweet ones over on their side of the table.

“Moon, please thank your mother for me again,” Ilima said to her from the other side of Mallow and Acerola, “She was very kind to me. I really appreciate her hospitality.”

“Whas’ he falkin’ bou?” Hau asked around a mouthful of food. Lillie scolded him and told him to swallow before he spoke.

“Moon invited me over for dinner last night,” Ilima said, “Her mother was very kind to me.”

“Yeah, when we’ve talked on the phone her mom has seemed real nice,” Sun chimed.

Hau looked at Moon. “What’d you guys have?”

“Hau, you’re in the middle of lunch, are you really going to start thinking about supper already?” Lillie asked next to him with a little pout. He replied with an emphatic yes and Lillie was shaking her head.

“How come you haven’t invited me over for dinner, Moony?” Sun asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Because you’re you,” Moon answered. Sun puffed up his cheeks and hit the table a couple of times before sticking his tongue out at her.

Moon’s painting was slowly starting to look like a Raichu in art. Lana was painting some sort of Ocean scene and the water looked really nice. Sophocles had to have Ilima help him with his at one point, but even his was starting to take shape. They goofed off a little too much at one point, though. They drew faces on each other’s foreheads.

“I gotta wash this off before PE,” Moon said as she was leaving, “See you there Ilima!”

The paint had already dried, so it ended up taking her a little more effort than she thought to wash it off. She ended up accidentally scraping her fingernail down her left cheek, slicing it open. She hadn’t changed yet, so she simply headed out to ask her professor if she could go to the nurse to get ointment.

Kiawe inhaled with a hiss when he saw her face. “That looks like it hurt,” he whispered.

Her professor said if someone went with her, then she could leave. Sun quickly offered to go, but the professor scowled at him. “Nice try, Sun, but you’ve used excuses like this to ditch before. Kiawe, why don’t you go with her? You’re responsible.”

Sun fumed after that, but Moon and Kiawe were already walking to the exit. Gladion saw them leave and he looked confused. Moon saw him go over to the others as she left.

Kiawe walked with her, smiling at anyone he passed in the hallway that he knew. “What’d you do to your face, anyway?” he finally asked.

“I was trying to scrub paint off my face and I guess I cut myself,” she replied. He hissed again as he inhaled.

Nurse Joy used special bandages, had her Happiny use Heal Pulse, and put an ointment on Moon’s cheek to make sure it wouldn’t get infected. “I want you to sit out for swimming today so the ointment doesn’t wash off, all right?” her voice was so sweet and melodic, “I’ll give you a note so you don’t get in trouble.”

Moon thanked her and went back out to walk back with Kiawe.

“Hey, so I was wondering if you were free this weekend,” Kiawe said, looking at her cheek with a bit of a grimace.

“Uh, I think so, why?”

Kiawe smiled, rubbing the back of his neck, “Well it’s my little sister’s birthday Saturday and I was going to perform a dance and I just wondered if you wanted to come…”

She blinked a couple of times before smiling. “Aww, Kiawe, I’d love to! I’ll be sure to bring her a present, too! What does she like?”

“She really likes cute Pokemon,” he replied, still smiling, “She likes Pichu and Igglybuff and Eevee and things like that. I’m sure she’ll be happy if you bring her anything about them.”

“Awesome, that sounds great! Where do you live?”

Now Kiawe chuckled nervously. “On Akala Island,” he replied. Moon blinked at him, looking shocked. “Mallow and I both live on Akala, actually. I live on my family’s ranch and use a ride pager to get to school every day. So does Mallow I think.” He saw Moon was still staring, wide eyed. “I can come and pick you up Saturday morning. We should be able to get back to my house with plenty of time.”

“Geeze,” Moon put her hand against her forehead, “I mean I knew you lived on a ranch, but I had no idea you lived on a whole ‘nother island! How do you wake up early enough to get here!? I’d be exhausted!”

Kiawe laughed and pushed open the door into the pool area for her. Moon presented her note to the professor, got her stuff out of the locker room, and sat down on the bleachers. She watched her friends swimming around. She saw both Gladion and Hau look at her at one point with worried looks on their faces. Neither of them had seen her cut before she left. They were probably concerned.

When she got to Battle Tactics, Nanu took one look at her and asked, “Geeze, what attacked your face?”

Moon felt her cheeks heat up with embarrassment. “Ah, nothing. I just cut myself on accident.”

“It doesn’t look too bad,” Gladion said from her right side.

“Yes it does,” Moon whined.

“Okay, yeah, it does.” After he said that, Moon gave him a light smack on the arm. Ilima and Kiawe both laughed.

Moon was pouting at him, and Gladion looked at her with a small frown. “Don’t you want me to be honest?”

“I'm pretty sure we’ve had this discussion before,” Moon hissed, “I like honesty, but not if you’re being mean.”

Gladion rolled his eyes. “You sound like my sister.”

“So? Your sister is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met,” Moon argued, still pouting.

Nanu had them stop arguing so they could continue to watch the battles. Moon sat with her friends, occasionally touching at her cheek. After a while of her poking at her face, Gladion grabbed her hand and held it down.

Moon frowned at him. “I thought you wanted your hand back,” she teased.

“I’d rather not have you wiping off all your medicine and then complaining about it later.”

With a huff, Moon turned her head back and let him hold her hand in place.

“You start using your other hand and I’m going to make Kiawe hold it, too,” Gladion stated blankly. Moon only groaned and kept watching the battles.

Once everyone was done, Nanu stood in front of all the groups. “You all did pretty good,” he started, “I’m glad to see all of you took my advice and practiced with your partner. Tomorrow we’ll be starting to look at the ways Pokemon battle in the wild without trainers. You can all go ahead and leave. We’re done for today.”

Moon and Gladion stood up, still holding hands, and as he walked by, Dexio asked them in a sing-song voice, “Ooh, when’s the wedding you two?”

They both of course quickly jumped away from each other, and Gladion snarled at him. “She kept touching the cut on her face, you idiot…”

“Sure, sure,” Dexio called, skipping away with Sina.

Ilima gave Moon a pat on the shoulder. “Just ignore Dexio. He’s a hopeless romantic.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3


	10. For Celebi's Sake

Moon and her mother had been shopping for a few hours. They were trying to find a present for Kiawe’s little sister, who Moon had learned was named Hoshi. It was turning out harder than they thought. Moon had been looking for plush toys for a while, but the ones she kept finding looked really poorly made. They had started looking for clothes after that, but weren’t having any luck then either.

“Maybe we should look for notebooks or bags with cute Pokemon on them?” her mother offered.

The younger girl agreed and they both started searching. At one point Moon got a text from Lillie, asking what her address was. When Moon asked why, she said, “In case we ever want to pay you a surprise visit!”

Moon smiled as she replied. “We?”

“Okay, in case _I_ ever want to pay you a visit,” Lillie replied. With a laugh, Moon told her what her address was and went back to her shopping.

“Who was that?” her mom asked.

“Friend from school.”

After searching for a while, Moon found an adorable blanket with Cleffa, Happiny, and Igglybuff pictures all over it. Her mom also found a really cute Pikachu eraser that was as big as a Pokémon egg. Of course they had to find a card, and that was much easier.

As they were leaving the shopping mall, the two of them ran into Hau. Well, actually Hau had spotted Moon and started screaming at her, while running through the place. He jumped into a hug once he reached her.

“Oh, I remember you,” her mother said, “You were one of the nice young men talking to my daughter the other day.”

Hau beamed, putting his hands behind his head and crossing one leg in front of the other. “Yup! That’s me!”

“What are you doing here, Hau?” Moon asked, adjusting her hold on the bags of presents.

“Kiawe invited me to come to his baby sister’s birthday party, so I was gonna look for a present!” he replied, “And I was gonna grab a Malasada while I was here.”

“Of course you were,” Moon laughed.

Her mom smiled. “Oh, you were invited too? So was Moon. We just finished shopping for her present!”

“Oh yeah? Neat!” Hau grinned at Moon, “You two should get a Malasada with me and show me what you bought for her!”

When her mother asked what a Malasada was, Hau fell into Moon, clinging to her shoulders and fake-sobbing. Once he was done with his performance, he led the two of them to the Malasada shop in the mall.

Moon got a bitter one again and her mother, unsure what to get, just got the sweet one like Hau recommended. The three of them sat and talked while they ate.

At one point Moon said something that made Hau smile like the sun and her mother started cooing over him. She rubbed Hau’s cheek and said sweetly, “Oh, what a cutie!” His smile only got brighter. Moon shielded her eyes.

“So Kiawe invited you, huh, Moon?” Hau asked. “He must really like you, then. You haven’t even met his sister yet!”

“Does he usually make people meet her first before he invites them over?”

“Well, if it’s for her birthday party, he usually does,” Hau replied before munching into his Malasada, “I’m sure she’ll like you, though. You’re nice.”

Moon’s mother was gushing about how sweet Hau was again, and Moon had to try and quiet her down. When they said their goodbyes, her mother looked at her.

“Goodness, sweetie, I don’t know what you’re going to do!”

“What do you mean?” Moon asked, a little worried.

Her mother had one hand on her hip. “Well you’ve got two wonderful boys to choose from!”

Going pink in the face, Moon whined, “Mooomm!! You’re so embarrassing!”

“Oh, actually didn’t you say you knew even more boys? My word, you’re going to have such a hard time picking who you want to date if they're all this nice!”

“For Celebi’s sake, mom…!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just really liked the phrase "for celebi's sake". it was in a redemptionshipping fic I read ages ago that I need to find again because it was top notch.


	11. Hoshi's Birthday Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eyyyyyyyyyy i'm dying squirtle  
> back in school and have basically no free time again  
> updates will probably be slower than they were before  
> hope you guys like this chapter though!

                While Moon was putting her stuff in her locker, she heard shuffling beside her. A quick glance and a flash of pale skin, and she had a fifty fifty shot of who it was. When a deeper voice said, “Hey,” she knew which sibling it was.

                “Hey Gladion,” she greeted, getting her books for her first four classes, “What’s up?”

                She heard him sigh. “Lillie gave me your address yesterday.”

                Moon smiled and shut her locker, looking up at him. “I kinda figured she would,” she hummed, “She said in case the two of you ever wanted to pay me a surprise visit.”

                “Why the fuck would I want to do that?” Gladion growled, moving to walk with her, “What if we stop by and you’re not even home? Just stupid…”

                “It’s a nice thought at least,” Moon said, “Lets me know you guys like me enough that you want to come over.”

                He shrugged. They had reached her English rom, so they had stopped in the hall outside to talk. “I guess… I’m sure you’d rather have other people visit you before us.”

                Moon pouted at him. “Like who?”

                “Like Kiawe,” Gladion replied with a blank look on his face, “It’s pretty obvious you like him.” Moon went bright pink.

                “I-is it really?” she stammered.

                “Painfully so,” he said. Moon hid her face in her hands. The fact that it was Gladion saying it only seemed to make it more embarrassing. “I won’t tell ‘im, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

                Moon waved one hand at him, still flustered and red in the face.

                “Well, I’ll see you later, kay?” Moon nodded at his question and he walked off.

                It was hard to look Kiawe in the face during Breeding after that. Did he know? Did he not know? Gladion made it sound like he didn’t know. Who else was able to tell? He was just so nice to look at! And he was such a sweet guy! There had to be other people who liked him.

                When Moon got to Home Ec, she had to ask Mallow. “How many people like Kiawe?”

                “Like, you mean like like?” When Moon nodded, Mallow huffed and looked up at the ceiling in thought, hands on her hips. “Let’s see… Leia, Holly, Jane, Kida, Nate, Poni, Erica, Halua… Hmm…” She chewed her lower lip as she kept thinking. “Probably at least eighty people have asked him out.”

                “Eighty!?”

                “Well that’s just who asked him out,” Mallow said, “I’m sure there’s more people too shy to ask him. A good guess would be around a hundred.”

                Moon was gaping at her. “Are you serious?”

                “Well can you blame them?” Mallow cocked her hip, “He’s like, the nicest guy ever second to Hau and Ilima!”

                “That’s true,” Moon agreed. But she was still amazed by such a high number.

                Mallow smiled. “You thinkin’ of asking him out?” When Moon started spluttering and going red, Mallow laughed. “Hey, it’s okay, I won’t tell him anything if you don’t!”

                “Does everyone know I like him?” Moon asked, trying to hide herself in her shoulders.

                “Nah, I’m sure Hau and Sun don’t,” Mallow replied, “And there’s no chance Kiawe knows. He’s so blind when it comes to stuff like this.”

                “But everybody else does?” Moon whined. Mallow only hummed and smiled and the two of them got to work on their assignment.

                Sophocles and Moon got paired up in Math. Hau had been so sad that he didn’t get paired with him. “You’ll let me look at your paper, though, right Moon?”

                “Sure, Hau.”

                “Noooooo!” Sophocles quickly yelled, “No, no! Don’t encourage him! Don’t let him use your work!”

                “Why not? It’s not like it’s an actual test, right?” Moon asked, nudging and smiling at Sophocles. The orange haired boy frowned at her. “C’mon, let ‘im take a look at it.”

                “I don’t want him to cheat off my stuff.”

                “Well he won’t,” Moon offered, “He’ll be cheating off _my_ papers.”

                Hau looked over her work during lunch. Gladion had sat next to Moon before Hau got back from getting his food, but when he saw Hau sit on the other side of her, he moved. Hau didn’t even notice. Lillie scolded him, though, and told him that it was rude to do that. After her nagging for a few minutes, he gave up and moved back. Moon gave him a small smile, but he just rolled his eyes and did some of his homework.

                “So, the actual answer for this one was fifty five?” Hau pointed with a frown, “But I got eight hundred.”

                “Well, that’s really wrong,” Sophocles said from the other side of the table, “Do the problem again.”

                Hau whined, but Moon gave him a pat on the back and he quieted down.

                Acerola and Mina were both talking about how the human body discolored after death. After about eleven minutes of it, Sun shouted at them. “Hey, can ya not!? I’m trying to eat! I don’t wanna be picturing some dead guy’s yellow eyeballs!”

                The others at the table all nodded in agreement. With a few grumbles and shrugs, they stopped and started talking about horror movies instead.

                “You like horror movies, Gladion?” Acerola asked the bored looking boy.

                Gladion shrugged. “Not really,” he replied, “I don’t like very many movies.”

                “You don’t like anything,” Sun snipped.

                Moon finally finished her painting in art. Sophocles had finished his as well. Lana was almost done with hers too, just a few more touches to add. They had to leave theirs to dry and they would be allowed to take them once they were graded. She took a picture of hers and sent it to Hau.

                His immediate response was a text with eighteen hearts. Eighteen. Moon counted.

                When she saw him in PE she asked if that meant he liked it. “Yeah! It’s beautiful!” he said, offering a high five. “I want it!”

                Their professor told them that next week would be the end of the swimming unit for them. Quite a few students were very happy about that.

                “Man, we’re almost done with the swimming unit and I still haven’t seen Moon in a bikini? What a bust,” Sun moaned. Moon hit him for it. “What? What’d I do?”

                “You just need to stop with this whole bikini nonsense,” Moon growled at him, “It’s not gonna happen.”

                Sun blew air up at his bangs and walked over to the water. The others slowly followed.

                Moon noticed the shirt Gladion wore today was black and had a big red slash across the front that was made to look like it was splatter paint toward the end. She really liked it. “Gladion, where’d you get that?” She pointed at the shirt when she asked.

                “Oh, uh, I forget which store it was, but it’s in the mall up in the next town,” he replied, tugging at the shirt. “I’m sure if I went in again I would know.”

                “You’ll have to take me at some point,” Moon said, “I want a shirt like that. It’s cool.”

                The cut on her face didn’t sting when she got in the water, even though she had thought it would. She was thankful no one had talked about it. It didn’t look good.

                She hadn’t even noticed that she reached up to touch it. She only realized it when Gladion snapped at her to stop, and swatted her hand away from her face.

                “What was that for?” His response to her question was to simply point at the cut.

                Moon had set an early alarm for Saturday morning. It felt wrong on so many levels, what with it being the weekend, but she knew she needed to be prepared for Kiawe. She made herself some coffee after she woke up. She would need it until the day really began.

                She and her mother had wrapped up Hoshi’s presents together the night before. Her mother had done most of the actual wrapping and Moon put the cute little red bow on the box. The wrapping paper was pink. She hoped Kiawe’s sister didn’t hate the color pink.

                Moon had chosen to wear a red floral print shirt and black shorts. She didn’t know much about Akala Island, but she had read it had a huge volcano on it. She assumed it might be warm.

                Meowth was following her around the house as she got her stuff together. The little cat kept mewing at her, asking for food. Moon told her no and said she had to wait for mom to wake up. Meowth wasn’t very happy about that. She pawed at Moon’s legs until Moon gave up and went to wait out in their front yard.

                About ten minutes later, Kiawe landed in the road in front of her house on a very big Charizard with ripped up wings. “Alola!” he greeted cheerfully, “Ready to go?”

                “Yup!” Moon picked up the box they prepared and hurried over to him. Kiawe hopped off his Pokemon and helped her put the box into the pouch on the Charizard’s side.

                “All right, I’m gonna help you up once I’m up,” he said as he climbed back onto the Charizard’s back, “It’s not the biggest seat, but it should be okay ‘til we get there.” He offered his hand to her, and pulled her up once she took it. Moon was startled by how hard he pulled. She actually fell into his side once she had her foot up there. He laughed, still holding her hand. “Sorry, guess I thought it would be harder to lift you up. Gladion did say you were puny, though. Maybe I shoulda listened.” She went a little pink, but situated herself behind him anyway. “You gotta hold on tight, okay? The wind can get pretty bad up there.” Now Moon was even more pink. She hesitantly wrapped her arms around his chest and tried not to think about how firm it was. So, so firm.

                When they took off, Moon felt like a fifty pound weight pushed down hard on her head, and then almost immediately let go. They were in the air sooner than she would have liked, and when she looked down, she held onto Kiawe even tighter. They were about to fly over the beach and then out above the ocean. The idea of knowing there was nothing but water below her was terrifying. She squeezed her hands tight together. She heard Kiawe assuring her it was okay, but that didn’t stop her from being frightened. The only thing that calmed her a little bit was seeing a few Wingull fly beside them. Kiawe pointed them out, saying they had company.

                She gasped before laughing and reaching one hand toward the birds. One squawked at her before they all dove down toward the water. Moon was able to watch the clouds and look out as the next island slowly got closer to them. She was actually able to focus on the scenery and not Kiawe. Everything looked so small. Even the volcano taking up most of the island looked tiny for a long time. The trees looked like green Mareep wool from the distance they were at. It looked so soft.

                Finally, Kiawe told Moon to hold on, and they began swooping down toward a large open field next to a few pretty big buildings. It felt like her stomach was in the top of her ribcage as they flew lower.

                Almost immediately after they landed, Kiawe hopped off the Charizard like it was the easiest thing in the world. Moon was just sitting there, her stomach still catching up with the rest of her.

                “Need help getting down?” Kiawe asked her.

                Moon continued staring off at nothing, but moved her hand to let him help her down. She essentially fell into him, and then muttered, “I think we left my stomach up there somewhere…”

                He laughed heartily at that comment. “Sorry. Flying takes a little while to get used to.”

                “Flying was fine, but that landing… I think I’m gonna hurl.”

                He helped walk her over to one of the large buildings. This one was obviously their house. She could already see a bunch of people hanging around outside. There were balloons everywhere and there were lots of little kids running around. As the two of them walked over, Moon scanned faces.

                “Alola Moon!” There’s Hau. And Mallow standing right next to him and Lana next to her. Moon kept looking and saw Ilima helping a tall woman with hair very much like Kiawe’s pile up the presents near a pretty pink table. That had to be Kiawe’s mom. She had the same red and black hair thing going on. Kiawe’s family had some weird genetics. Was that natural? Did they dye their hair? Moon decided she would need to see if his sister had it too. She spotted Sophocles walking out of the house with a plate of candies, but didn’t get to say hi to anyone before a small girl wearing a pink dress rushed over toward them.

                Kiawe quickly knelt down and picked her up once she reached him. He spun her in the air a few times, each of them laughing and smiling. That had to be his sister. When he set her back down Moon inhaled and held her chest. She was so tiny! Her ponytail was soft and poofy looking like Hau’s, but she had red streaks of hair leading up to it and two little tufts sticking out near her ears that matched. She was Kiawe’s sister all right. His tiny, adorable sister.

                “Hoshi, this is my friend Moon,” he said, motioning one hand toward her, kneeling beside his sister still, “She just moved to Alola a little while ago, but she wanted to meet you and give you a preset.”

                Moon swallowed and tried to look friendly. She gave the small girl a wave and smiled as best she could.

                Hoshi walked over to her and looked up at her. Moon was holding the present in her right hand, so when Hoshi offered a handshake, Moon had to use her left. “It’s nice to meet you, Moon!” Hoshi greeted with a huge smile, “Welcome to Alola! You’ll like it here! It’s the best place in the whole wide world!”

                With a little laugh, Moon replied, “I know, it’s wonderful here. Happy birthday, Hoshi!”

                Hoshi bounce on her toes, still smiling. “Thank you!” She pointed at herself with her thumb. “I’m turning seven! Pretty soon I’ll be as big as Big Brother!”

                Kiawe hummed happily and walked over to ruffle her hair. “You’ll always be my cute baby sister, though. No matter how big you get.” Hoshi whined at him and tried to argue that she wasn’t cute, but one of her friends came over and tagged her and she got distracted. After she and her friend ran off, Moon went and handed her present off to Ilima and Kiawe’s mom.

                She introduced herself as Amara and pointed out a man with glasses and soft looking hair helping set up a piñata as her husband, Shibu. Moon couldn’t help but smile when she saw his face. Kiawe was a perfect mix of his parents. He had his father’s face, but his mother’s hair and eyes. Such a cute family.

                “You look nice today,” Lana said, startling Moon out of her thoughts. She turned to look at the blue haired girl and smiled. Lana was wearing a pastel blue dress that had white anchors printed on it in random locations.

                “You do too,” Moon said, “I like the anchors.”

                Lana blushed and curtsied a little bit. Mallow and Hau were both running around with the little kids, playing a game of what appeared to be knights and dragons. Hoshi shouted at Kiawe to join them as her horse.

                Sophocles walked over to stand with the two of them. He offered a candy to Moon and commented on the knights. “Kiawe looks like a giant with all those kids.”

                “Maybe they can play giants next,” Moon offered.

                The game went on for a while before the kids decided they wanted to play fight against giant monster Pokemon and they demanded all the big kids come and be the monsters. Ilima tried to argue against it so he could keep helping, but Amara laughed and nudged him toward the group. Hoshi was dictating who was what.

                “Big Brother, you’re a giant mean Turtonator! Mallow and Lana, you’re both big Exeggutor!” She turned and pointed at Ilima. “You’re gonna be a SlowKing! You can’t catch us too fast! Hau, you’re gonna be a Tyranitar and you’ve gotta really roar!” Hau demonstrated his roar for the kids and they all agreed it was perfect. Sophocles was supposed to be Zapdos, which he didn’t look very sure of, and Moon was told to be an Abomasnow. Once it was decided, the older kids ran around chasing after the smaller kids and roaring at them menacingly. Hoshi and her friends had little toy Pokeballs that they would throw at them to try and capture them. Dodging balls being thrown by over a dozen small children was a lot harder than Moon thought it would be. Eventually she ended up running away from the kids instead of chasing them. When she was hit, she fell to her knees in defeat and sighed.

                Hau stopped next to her and she held one hand up toward him weakly. “They got me, Hau! Run! Save yourself!” She flexed her fingers before dropping to her side on the grass and giggling as he ran away, seven pairs of tiny feet chasing after him.

                Amara was calling to the kids for cake and Moon saw a pair of familiar feet in front of her and looked up at Kiawe. He smiled and offered his hand. She was a little embarrassed taking it, but was happy for the help.

                Ilima walked past her, looking down at his vest and muttering as he went. “Now I’m going to have to get these grass stains out when I get home…”

                Hau threw an arm around his shoulder. “Cheer up, Ilima! There’s gonna be cake! Nobody can be sad when there’s cake!” Sophocles agreed with him.

                Everyone sang to Hoshi and she blew out her candles. Kiawe’s dad was taking pictures. Moon paused looking at him. “So that’s what it would look like if Kiawe wore a shirt,” she whispered to no one in particular. Apparently Lana heard her, though, because the gigglesnort she let out was so loud that three people turned to look. Lana was patting Moon’s arm as she laughed silently, sounding more like she was wheezing, and Hau gave her a confused look.

                When it was time for presents, Hoshi was jumping up and down she was so excited. She was pulling boxes off the pile, ignoring Kiawe who was telling her to let him help with the heavy ones. “You could get hurt!”

                Seeing her tear the wrapping paper apart on each box was oddly endearing. Moon remembered when she used to be the same way. Looking at her friends, she could guess Hau was probably still like that.

                Hoshi seemed super happy with every present she got. Most of them were cute Pokemon plush dolls and lots of her presents were varying shades of pink. She was cuddling a tiny Charmander doll someone had gotten her and wearing the blanket Moon had bought around her neck like a cape.

                Moon and the rest of the older kids sat and talked to each other for the most part while the little kids hit at the piñata shaped like a very colorful Mudbray. After they all had hit it at least three times each, Hoshi turned and shouted to Kiawe. “Big Brother! Come break this open!” He got up with a smile and didn’t even argue as he was handed the bat they had been using. It took him one hit and the paper Mudbray was split in half. The little kids all gawked at how strong he was, tons of them complimenting him on it.

                “He’s a good brother, isn’t he?” Ilima commented aloud to the group. They each watched as Kiawe ruffled Hoshi’s hair again and helped her put her candy into her blanket cape.

                Everyone nodded with varying noises of agreement. “I remember when Hoshi was born,” Mallow said, “He was so nervous. He was afraid she wouldn’t like him.”

                That sounded so absurd seeing how happy they both looked together. At one point he pulled her into a hug and blew a raspberry on her cheek. She squealed and pushed him away laughing, saying her big brother was making gross noises. He did it again and then started tickling her. That backfired against him fast, though. All the little kids climbed on him and attacked him with tickles of their own.

                “Do you think Gladion was like that with Lillie?” Hau asked, looking at Mallow. In response, Mallow only shrugged. “He’s not that much older than her, so maybe not…” Hau looked back at the pile of kids on top of Kiawe.

                “I wanna see Big Brother dance!” Hoshi announced loudly a couple of hours later, after it started getting dark. Everyone cheered in agreement, clapping and shouting for Kiawe to get his Marowak. He did so, a big smile on his face the entire time.

                Everyone sat around him and his three Marowak in a big half circle as he lit the ends of his stick on fire. The instant the wick material caught, a wave of heat rushed over everyone. Moon couldn’t imagine how hot it must have been to hold onto the stick.

                He gave his Marowak a couple of commands that Moon didn’t really understand and they began. It was an amazing performance. When Kaiwe would toss his fire stick into the air, the fire would spin into a perfect circle of light before dropping back down where he would catch it and twirl and pass it around between his hands. His Marowak mimicked his movements, but at offset times. Put together it made it seem as though there was always one circle of light in the air being switched out for another seamlessly. Moon had thought she would be ogling Kiawe’s muscles again during this dance, but really she was just staring completely awestruck. Even though there was no music he seemed to be keeping a perfect beat, stomping his feet down, clapping his hands if the stick was in the air, moving in time to the song in his head. If he slipped up, Moon couldn’t even tell. He seemed so flawless. Every motion seemed fluid and perfectly choreographed. The best way to describe it would be an artist in his element.

                She was sure her mouth was hanging open. He finished off his performance by having his Marowak toss their flaming bones up into the air toward him and he caught them all in one perfect spin. Everyone was cheering. Hoshi and the rest of her friends were screaming. She rushed forward to hug him once he doused his stick and returned the bones to his Pokemon.

                After things had finally calmed down and Kiawe was no longer swarmed by people, he approached his friends. “What did you think?”

                “That was amazing, Kiawe!” Hau shouted, jumping forward, “You were so cool! It was like, whoosh, whoosh fwee! Pshaa, whoosh whoosh whoosh!” Hau was trying to demonstrate, making all sorts of swinging motions.

                “You were really good,” Moon said, earning Kiawe’s attention. He smiled at her and Moon could see his skin shimmering with sweat. Definitely must have been hot. “Actually, you were really incredible.”

                Now Kiawe had a sheepish smile on his face and was rubbing the back of his neck with a small laugh. “Aww, you’re just saying that to make me feel good!”

                “Kiawe, you were really good,” Mallow assured him, putting a hand on his sweaty shoulder, seeming unbothered by it, “Like, that was honestly one of your best performances ever.” Lana and Sophocles both agreed, offering him high fives or pats on the shoulder.

                After all the praise, Kiawe hummed happily and turned his head to where his sister was playing and dancing with her friends. “I’m just glad Hoshi liked it.”

                “Why wouldn’t she like it?! That was badass!” Hau shouted, pumping his fist in the air, “I wish you were my brother! I’d show everyone how cool you are!” Kiawe laughed and thanked Hau for the compliments, giving him a partial hug.

                “I’m really glad you invited me,” Moon told him as the night started to wind down and people started leaving with their kids. He turned and smiled at her. “I’m really glad I got to see that. It was super cool. I don’t think I’ll ever forget this.”

                He of course gave her a big hug after she said hat. “I’m glad you came,” he said as he gave her a nice big squeeze, “I wanted you to be here. I wanted Hoshi to get to meet you.”

                Moon blushed and looked down at her feet. “Maybe I can come visit again sometime.” She was twisting her foot back and forth in the dirt, trying not to sound nervous as she offered.

                “I’m sure Hoshi would like that… I know I’d love it if you did.”


	12. Rainy Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, guys, can I just say I'm shocked by the response this story has gotten?! I was so worried people wouldn't like this. I was so nervous. I hadn't written anything in over a year and then I made two stories one right after the other and I've actually gotten so many nice comments and kudos! I was worried I had fallen out of practice after a year. Thanks everyone who has commented, given kudos, or bookmarked. It means a lot.

                When Moon got back from Kiawe’s she essentially passed out the second she laid down on her bed. She was out like a light. Even Meowth coming and sitting on her head didn’t wake her.

                Her phone had a few messages from Kiawe when she woke up the next morning. One was a photo of Hoshi bundled up and sleeping in the new blanket they just bought her. It had the label underneath of “She likes it!”

                “How was the party?” her mom asked once Moon stepped out of her bedroom, “Did she like what we got for her?”

                Moon nodded, walking to their stove. “Yeah, she slept in the blanket last night. And it was really fun,” she answered as she started making a pot of tea, “A few of the others were there. Kiawe performed for us and it was honestly amazing.”

                “Performed?”

                With her cup in hand, Moon sat beside her mom on the couch. “He does fire dancing. He was scary good.”

                Her mother smiled. “That sounds nice. I would love to see it sometime,” she said, flipping through channels on the TV. “Who was there?”

                “Hau, Mallow, Lana, Sophocles, and Ilima.” Moon frowned at the look her mother gave her. “They’re all good friends of Kiawe’s mom. Stop…”

                Now her mother pouted. “Don’t you like them though?”

                “They’re all super nice, mom, I like all of them because they’re my friends.”

                After watching some cooking show for a while, Moon got up and decided to train her Pokemon for a while. Rowlet and Abra both really needed it. She had the two of them spar against each other, trying to help them both out, for a long time. They kept training even when the clouds started rolling in and rain began to fall. The water was making things harder and her Pokemon were slipping up, but she kept on pushing. “Try to use the rain to help you!” She wanted to get better. Fighting through challenges was the best way to do that.

                She finally had to give up when Rowlet slid across the now thoroughly soaked grass and crashed into Abra. She hurried over to them and carried them inside to tend to them and let them dry off.

                “You stayed out in the rain?” her mother looked startled when she saw her walk inside, dripping everywhere.

                “We needed to practice,” Moon simply said, gathering her Pokemon up on a big towel and patting them dry. She got a bunch of berries for them once they weren’t completely drenched. Meowth came over and tried to steal one from Abra, but Moon stopped her and gave her one of her own. “Be nice.”

                Her mother looked at the rain through the window. It was pouring down now. “I sure hope none of your friends are out in this.”

                When Moon went to school the next day it was raining again. She had an umbrella, thankfully, but that didn’t save her feet from getting soaked by puddles and mud. Her sneakers were brown and squishy by the time she reached the building. She didn’t have a change of shoes with her either, since it was still the swimming unit. Not a good start to the day.

                “Hey there!” Moon turned her head to the voice, a little surprised to see Acerola heading toward her. And without an umbrella or coat or anything to protect her from the rain.

                “Aren’t you cold with the rain?”

                The purple haired girl shrugged. “I like the rain,” she replied. She then smiled and pointed at Moon’s umbrella, which had a Gastly design adorning it, and said, “I really like our umbrella, though. Did you buy that in Kanto?”

                “Oh, yeah,” Moon had forgotten about the type of Pokemon on the little thing, “My neighbor bought it for me as a going away present, actually.”

                Acerola smiled. “Well I would be happy with a present like that any day. Though I’d probably use it as a parasol on sunny days rather than an umbrella,” she walked beside Moon into the building. Moon noticed she was wearing sandals and her toes and most of her feet were splashed with mud. To her it looked gross and uncomfortable.

                “Aren’t rainy days just the best?” Acerola asked her, “Listen, you can hear the pitter patter of it on the roof!”

                Moon paused in getting her books to listen. Over the bustle of the students around her she actually could hear the rain. It sounded almost like a fan. It was falling at a steady hard pace. It was oddly soothing. She looked at the shorter girl. “Yeah, it’s not too bad. I just wish the mud didn’t make my shoes so squishy.”

                Acerola smiled and her face looked similar to a Meowth. “That’s why I wore sandals! I can just wipe the yuck off my feet and I’m good to go! My Mimikyu loves the rain. She likes how it makes the colors on her disguise run. The red looks like blood.”

                “That’s cheerful…”

                Sun looked like a drowned Rattata in English. He said it was because he forgot his umbrella. His hair was sticking to his face he was so wet. Moon asked if he had his towel for swimming with him.

                “Why would I want my tow-ohhhh,” Sun had started to ask, but stopped when he understood and his mouth made a perfect circle. “I could use it to dry off! You think I got time to run back to my locker and get it?”

                Lillie replied, “No.” Lana and Moon looked at the clock and agreed. He only had a minute.

                “I brought mine if you want to use it,” Moon said with a bit of a huff, pulling the bag with her swim gear out.

                He took it with a big grin. “Aww, thanks Moony! You do care!”

                Moon frowned at him as he ruffled his hair with her towel. “At least I’ll be able to let it hang and dry a bit before we have to swim today…”

                Sun kept the towel around his neck to catch when his hair dripped the whole class. He actually kept it around his neck after class was over. Both he and Moon completely forgot about it.

                They made some strange kind of soup during Home Ec that day. Mallow had kept suggesting they add extra spices to it and at first Moon had agreed. But after the third spice, Moon wanted to taste whatever concoction they were making. It was spicy, but it wasn’t too bad. “How much more did you want to add?” she asked, looking at Mallow.

                Mallow held up one of the jars of spice and looked at it. “Mm, I was thinking maybe half a cup of this? And then a couple tablespoons of that fire-salt.”

                Moon cringed a little. “Half of a cup? Doesn’t that seem like a bit much?”

                “No, why?” Mallow looked genuinely confused. “Did it seem like too much to you?”

                Now Moon understood why spicy Malasadas were Mallow’s favorite. After a little bit of bartering, the two of them decided on a fourth of a cup instead.

                When Moon got to Math, Sun gave back her towel, apologizing about taking it. She held it with a blank look on her face. “Oh yeah, I forgot I gave it to you.”

                “You really have a problem,” Sun deadpanned. She frowned at him, but Hau and Lillie were pushing them both into the room. Sophocles was already in his seat, and he offered them all a smile before turning to the front of the room.

                Molayne collected their papers and Hau winked at Moon when he took his. “Think I mighta passed this one!”

                “Yeah, cuz you got help,” Sophocles grumbled at him. Hau only grinned and winked at him too.

                During the middle of class Molayne had to leave the room to answer a phone call. As soon as the door shut the room was full of chatter. Sun and Hau were talking about some tournament they were going to watch on TV. Moon had no idea what kind of tournament but they seemed excited. Lillie was drawing cute little hearts and flowers on her notes. Moon started asking Sophocles about their art class.

                “Sorry about that everyone,” Molayne said as he came back in, “Just got an update on a friend in the hospital.”

                “Are they okay?” Lillie asked, worry all over her face.

                “They’re stable,” Molayne replied.

                When they left, Sun of course asked Sophocles about that. “Any idea who was in the hospital?”

                The short boy shrugged. “Not sure. Probably one of his older buddies.”

                “Mm...” Sun didn’t look thrilled with that answer. His face went flat and he put his arms behind his head as they walked to lunch.

                “Oh, how was Hoshi’s party?” Lillie asked, looking at Moon, Hau, and Sophocles, “I couldn’t go.”

                “It was aweome!” Hau answered, beaming and waving his arms, “Kiawe did a really epic fire dance and there was cake and we played evil monsters!”

                Lillie smiled at his excitement, closing her eyes. “Sounds like you had fun.” He nodded, still beaming. She looked at the other two. “What about you two?”

                “It was pretty nice,” Sophocles replied, “Amara made some really good candies this year. They get better and better every year.”

                “I didn’t realize those were homemade,” Moon said, looking at him, “They were really good.”

                Moon looked at Sun after a moment. “How come you didn’t go?”

                “Had to work,” he replied with a frown, “Boss is a hardass.” Hau gave him a pat on the back and a sympathetic smile.

                During lunch Moon was reading a book for English. She was supposed to have read it all by tomorrow. She had only read the first chapter, though. Sun was teasing her about not keeping up on her studies, but she was ignoring him.

                “Did you read it all?” Lana asked the black haired boy.

                “Nah,” he replied, “But I’ve never tried to be all that studious and shit. If I fail, then I fail. It’s whatever.”

                Lillie scolded him for that comment. “You should care about school, Sun.”

                Gladion was looking at the book over Moon’s shoulder. She only noticed because his bangs brushed up against her face. It actually made her flinch. She turned her head to look at him.

                “What?”

                “Your hair fucking gave me a heart attack!” Moon snapped with a scowl.

                With a bit of a confused frown, he tucked some of his hair behind his ear. “There, better?”

                After blinking at his uncovered face a couple of times, Moon turned back to her book. She moved it a little bit closer to him now though, since she knew he was reading it too.

                “Aw, you two are so cute!” Sun teased them. Gladion sent him a scowl, but Moon continued to ignore him. He pouted at that. “What, no snappy comeback this time, Moon?”

                “If I fail the test on this tomorrow I’m fining your ass.” Was all she said. The whole table laughed.

                As she made progress on the book, Moon could overhear Acerola repeatedly mentioning her Gastly umbrella. She grimaced a little as she listened. It sounded like she really wanted it. Did they not sell them here in Alola?

                She looked up at the purple haired girl. “Do you really want it?” she asked her.

                Acerola’s cheeks went pink. “Oh, no, no! I don’t want to take it from you! I’m just thinking about it! I’ll look online tonight to see if I can buy one of my own! I don’t want you to think I was trying to guilt you into giving it to me!”

                “So she listens to Acerola but ignores me…” Sun grumbled.

                Moon frowned at the black haired boy. “Keep up the whining and I’ll ignore you all the time.” He stuck his tongue out at her and she responded in kind. Lillie told them to stop fighting and that broke up their childish argument.

                When she got to PE, Moon frowned when she felt her towel. It was still damp. She looked at her suit for today. It was a two piece. Sun would probably complain about it not being a bikini again. It was designed to look like the top and bottom halves of a Gardevoir. She had picked it out with one of her friends back home. She couldn’t even remember which one anymore, but she still had the suit. Obviously she hadn’t done much growing in the past two years.

                Ilima was absolutely infatuated with her suit. He was fawning over it and saying how badly he wished Mina were there. “It’s absolutely lovely! She would love this! You must show it to her some time! It’s incredible!”

                “You really like Gardevoir, huh?”

                “They’re so elegant!” Ilima said, eyes bright and shimmering, “I aspire to carry myself as a Gardevoir does! Gliding through life like a beautiful spirit.”

                Hau frowned at him. “Why would you want to be a ghost?” Ilima began correcting him on the term being spirit and how it was different from ghost, but Moon didn’t hear most of it. Instead she heard a loud whistle that had her cringing and rubbing her arms.

                “Wow, Moony!” Sun exclaimed, walking over, arms behind his head and grinning, “Lookin’ _good_! It’s no bikini, but you lookin’ _nice_!”

                She glowered at him as best she could. Moon was sure her face was red, though, so she probably wasn’t all that intimidating.

                Gladion smacked the back of his head as he walked over to the group. Sun yelped, rubbing the spot and frowned. “What the hell was that for?!”

                “Leave ‘er alone,” the blond said, not even looking at him. He set his towel down on the bleachers and turned around, arms crossed in front of him. “You’ve been particularly annoying today.”

                Sun scowled at Gladion and opened his mouth to respond when the professor told them all to head into the water. He groaned and turned away from the impending argument.

                Kiawe smiled at Gladion. “It’s okay, right? No need to fight. You know Sun is always irritable when it’s raining.” The blond boy rolled his eyes and muttered something after that. Kiawe looked at Moon and offered her the same smile. “Sorry you’re getting the brunt of this, Moon.”

                “I just wish he’d let the swimsuit thing go already…”

                “That’s never going to happen,” Gladion said, walking past her toward the pool.

                Moon looked at Kiawe and he just sighed, rolling his shoulders.

                At one point when they were practicing a specific stroke, Moon’s gaze had wandered. She had been staring at their professor for a while, frowning at his facial hair, then she had been looking at the plastic things floating and separating the lanes, and then she was looking at her friends. She blinked when she noticed a big ugly bruise on Gladion’s right arm.

                “Ouch, Gladion what’d you do to your arm?” she asked, swimming over to him. The only one next to them at the moment was Ilima and Moon was sure she heard him inhale sharply at her question. Sun, Hau, and Kiawe were the ones currently swimming back and forth across the pool.

                The blond frowned, confused, and looked down. He reached his other arm around to poke at the bruise. “No idea,” he said after a moment of silence, “Must’ve hit something…”

                Kiawe had completed his laps and had only heard Gladion’s reply. He figured what was happening though and said, “Oh, mystery bruise huh?  I get those a lot.”

                “Kiawe, your bruise aren’t mysteries,” Ilima said, giving him a frown and a pat on the head, “You’re always dancing and working out. No one has to wonder where your bruises come from.” Kiawe smiled and Moon laughed at that. Ilima had a point.

                Their professor yelled at Ilima to start swimming and stop yapping, which made the poor boy jump in fright. Once Sun was done Moon was supposed to start doing laps next and Gladion would take Hau’s place. Sun was on his way back, so Moon was getting ready to push off the wall and start her laps.

                “Moon?” Gladion’s voice stopped her and she turned her head to look at him. “You won’t tell Lillie about this, right?”

                She titled her head, confused. “Why would I tell her about it? It’s a mystery bruise, right?”

                He quickly looked away. “Yeah, right… Never mind then…”

                She paused for a moment just looking at him, thoroughly confused. Was it not actually a mystery bruise? Did he get hurt and just didn’t want anyone knowing? She frowned, turning and pushing off the wall. She wished he would just talk to her. Everyone else seemed okay talking to her about their problems. Gladion was like a wall. If she ever got anything from him it was only a small chunk.

                The rain was so loud during Battle Tactics. It sounded like the rain was pelting the roof. That didn’t bode well for her walk back to her house. She would probably need to put her shoes in front of her hair dryer when she got back.

                Nanu was explaining a battle formation to the class, drawing it out on the chalkboard. He said it was often used by law enforcement for dealing with rampant wild Pokemon.

                Listening to the rain was actually really soothing. Moon had almost fallen over when she started dozing off. The constant drone of the rain had lulled her into nap time mode. She kept drifting, leaning this way or that and then ended up jerking herself back to the position she started off at.

                “You need coffee or something?” Sina asked her. Moon had hardly noticed her there. She was sitting next to Dexio on Moon’s left. The guys and Acerola were on Moon’s right.

                “I just need to move around,” Moon replied, stretching and trying to pop her back. “Though, coffee would probably make it easier…”

                When class was finally over, Moon was only too grateful. She felt like she needed to run a marathon. She was so tired, she needed to wake up. The first thing she did was twist around and stretch out her legs.

                “Doin’ yoga?” Acerola asked her, bending and turning so she was looking upside down up into Moon’s face as she bent to stretch her back.

                “Just trying to wake up,” Moon replied. Acerola joined her in the stretching poses, smiling and giggling as they moved together.

                Mina watched the two of them, arms hanging limp at her sides until she seemed to notice a pose she liked, and then she had a hand up rubbing her chin in thought. Moon felt nervous knowing she was studying them. She hoped she didn’t look stupid.

                “This is like doing some kind of Z Move!” Acerola sang out, bending to the right as Moon did, “This can be a SlowPoke’s Z Move!”

                “See ya later, you two!” Kiawe said goodbye as he and the others left. Moon waved from the awkward angle she was at. After a few more stretches she decided they were done. Acerola was still laughing when they finished.

                Moon went and gathered up her things at her locker. She made sure to bring her book for English so she could finish it up tonight. When she opened the doors to the building she groaned. The rain was just as bad as she thought it would be. There were puddles everywhere.

                “A car would be so nice right about now,” she mumbled as she began the trek through the water.  The first thing she did when she got home was change into her nice dry pajamas. Everything was sopping wet. She had to throw her clothes into the dryer right away. Her mom only offered her a sympathetic smile and gave her a towel to put over her shoulders.


	13. More Malasadas!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moon and Gladion can be gross together.

Moon had been listening to music during her entire walk to school the next morning. She didn’t even know the name of the song, she had just found it on a video and had the video on loop while she walked so she could listen to it. She tapped her foot to the beat as she opened her locker. She was super thankful it wasn’t rainy today.

“Ooh, whatchya listenin’ to?” Sun asked, walking behind her to his locker.

Moon smiled. “No idea, but it’s good.”

Sun laughed. “Kiawe would be offended. How could you not know what you’re listening to?”

“Hey, the video didn’t give credits, so I don’t know what it is!”

“He’d still be offended.” Sun said with a smug grin. Moon only rolled her eyes and closed her locker. “You gonna wait for me?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said, holding her notebook against her chest, “I got nothin’ better to do.”

“Think you’re ready for the test?” Sun asked her, closing his locker and adjusting the hat on his head.

“Do you?”

He grinned at her. “I’m just gonna wing it.”

“Now Lillie would be offended hearing that,” Moon chided, smiling and walking next to him, one earbud still in place.

Sun shrugged. “She’s not my mom. I’m not worried.”

The test wasn’t actually as bad as Moon thought it would be. She didn’t remember everything, but at least she didn’t have an enormous essay to write. Lillie looked like she was blazing through the whole thing, which didn’t surprise Moon, and Sun was circling random choices and occasionally scribbling down a word or two. Moon couldn’t see Lana around him.

During breeding their professor was offering them the chance to raise and hatch an egg. He had six and said they would draw straws for who would get to take one and then rotate it among a group of whoever they wanted to trade with. Mallow got her name drawn and happily took the light pink egg.

“What do you guys think it is?” She asked her friends as they all gathered around her.

“Maybe an Igglybuff?” Lana suggested.

“Or a Cleffa,” Kiawe said, rubbing one hand over the egg.

Moon looked at the egg. “It could be a Hoppip…” Mallow liked the idea of it being that best because it was a grass type.

“We can each take the egg for a few days and rotate it around until it hatches,” Mallow said, tucking the egg into her backpack, “I’ll start with it and then it can go to you, Kiawe. And then Lana and then Moon and back to me.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Mallow made sure to set the egg carefully on her lap during Home Ec. Thankfully it was a lecture. Hau was super excited about the egg. He was rubbing it and cooing at the baby Pokemon inside, telling them to hurry up and hatch so he could see how cute they were.

“You bringing another book to lunch today, Moon?” Lillie asked her at one point when they were taking a five minute break.

Moon looked confused. “Huh?”

Lillie hummed at the look on her face. “I just wondered. I saw my brother reading with you yesterday and I wondered if you were going to do that again.”

“Everyone saw him reading with me Lils,” Moon said, face flat and blank, “I smacked my knees into the underside of the table when he scared me. Everyone was looking.” Lillie only smiled and hummed again. “But to answer your question, nah, probably not. I just needed to study for the test today. How do you think you did anyhow?”

“I had a bit of difficulty with the paragraph at the end, but otherwise it was fine.”

“Lillie’s super smart!” Hau piped up, smiling and putting an arm around her shoulders, “She’s almost as smart as Sophy!”

“Oh, Hau, I’m flattered,” Lillie said, patting him on the head sweetly. Moon saw the happy look that crossed Hau’s face as she praised him. Adorable.

Mallow took the egg with her to lunch. Ilima, Acerola and Mina were of course looking at it curiously, trying to guess what might be inside it. Sun and Gladion didn’t seem as interested. Sophocles suggested it could be a shiny Pachirisu. Ilima quickly gushed about how cute Pachirisu were. He was saying their tails looked like fluffy clouds and Sun made a comment about how that sounded like his hair.

Moon absently rubbed at the scab on her cheek at one point, feeling the spots where it was starting to peel off. She hoped it wouldn’t leave any sort of marks.

Their professor returned their paintings during art, or at least some of them. He kept some of the best ones to hang up in the hallway. Lana’s was one of them.

“I hope Togedemaru likes this,” Sophocles said as he looked at his painting, “She’ll never forgive me if she doesn’t.” Lana gave him a sympathy pat on the back.

During PE Moon noticed another bruise on Gladion. Also on the same arm, just lower near his wrist. The second she spotted it she frowned. She wanted to ask about it. Would he be angry if she did? Only one way to find out…

“Gladion, are you okay?” The look he gave her after she asked that almost made Moon laugh. Almost. “I just, well, I mean, you’ve got another bruise…”

He looked where she pointed with a frown. “Oh, yeah, look at that…”

“Did you fall or something? Is that why you didn’t want me to tell Lillie? So she wouldn’t be worried?”

He rubbed at the bruise in silence for a moment. “I don’t know… I just don’t want her nagging me about it…”

Moon smiled. “You’re her family. She’s gonna nag you no matter what.” Gladion smirked at her comment. “My mom and I nag each other all the time.”

“Well I’m fine, okay? It’s just a couple bruises. Not a big deal,” he said, heading over to sit at the edge of the pool. Moon went and sat next to him and watched Sun and Hau trying to catch Kiawe. She saw Ilima give her a look, but she shook her head at him as in as subtle a way as she could. He took the hint and didn’t say anything as he came to sit with them.

“How are things?” he asked, smiling at the two of them, “Good?”

Moon shrugged. “Can’t really complain today. Sun hasn’t commented on my suit once. It’s pretty nice.” Both Ilima and Gladion laughed at that.

“I can see why that would be a nice change.”

“Hey guys!” Hau swam over to them, a big wide smile on his face, “Are you all free after school today?”

Moon looked at the two of them, both of them just shrugged and said they might be. “What are you planning Hau?” Moon asked, “Another Malasada day?”

Hau laughed and said, “Yeah! Malasadas and drinks while we all work on homework! Kiawe and Sun are both up for it! I already asked!”

Moon frowned a little bit. “So does that mean I would be the only girl going?”

“Not if Lillie wants to come!” Hau chimed, hands and feet swishing around in the water. “Whaddyou think, Gladdy? Think you two could come this time?”

Gladion huffed. “You should have asked earlier…” He paused long enough for a worried frown to cross Hau’s face. “I’ll see what I can do.” Now the big happy smile was back and Hau swam back over to Sun and Kiawe.

Because he was trying to find Lillie and work out whatever schedule they had, Gladion was late to Battle Tactics. Nanu had asked why, and Gladion simply had said he was trying to talk to his sister.

“You two live together, you can talk whenever you want.” Nanu didn’t sound impressed.

Gladion only shrugged and sat next to the others. When they all gave him questioning looks, he gave them a half-hearted thumbs up and quickly dropped his arm.

Hau would certainly be happy to have the two siblings joining them on their Malasada date.

Moon laughed to herself at one point, earning a confused look from the blond beside her.

“I was just thinkin… Sun’s probably going to make fun of us,” she said. He only looked more confused. “You and I both like bitter Malasadas, according to Sun. He says that means we’re not human.”

Gladion rolled his eyes. “He’s such a drama queen…” They listened to Nanu for a bit before he asked quietly, “You like bitter ones too, huh?”

“I just don’t really like sweets,” Moon replied, eyes trained on what Nanu was scribbling on the board. She heard him make a ‘hum’ noise beside her before falling quiet again.

Class felt like it dragged on after that. It probably didn’t help that Nanu even seemed bored by what he was saying. At least Moon wasn’t falling asleep this time.

Everyone split up to their own lockers, agreeing to wait by the main entrance for Hau and the others. Sun was at his locker when Moon got to hers, so she just walked and waited with him.

“Lillie and Gladion are coming too,” Moon told him as they stood by the front entrance.

Sun scoffed. “There’s the shock of the century.”

“Why?”

“They never do anything with us,” he said, “They’re always busy with some shit their mother has planned for them. They don’t have any free time.”

Moon frowned at him. “You didn’t tell me this when I asked you about their mom because?”

He shrugged. “I forgot.”

When the others finally arrived, their little group started the walk to the Malasada shop. Hau was dragging Ilima and Kiawe along, even though they weren’t going any slower than anyone else.

Moon had her music in again, enjoying the song she still didn’t know the name of. She only took her earbud out when they reached the shop.

“Okay, I’ll order for everyone!” Hau said once they got inside, “You guys go get us a nice big table!”

Moon looked at Ilima as they walked to a spot Sun was picking. “Does he have everyone’s favorites memorized?”

“With Hau, I wouldn’t doubt it.”

Moon ended up sitting in between Lillie and Kiawe. If they had chosen a booth she would definitely have been squished.

Hau came back with a big tray full of the pastries. He started handing out depending on type. “Normal for Kiawe and Ilima, sweet for me, Sun and Lillie, and bitter for Gladion and Moon!” Each type had a different color sticker on them, thankfully. The bitter ones had a green circle.

Everyone chatted as they ate. Occasionally Lillie or Ilima would remind Hau not to talk with his mouth full, but otherwise it was pretty nice. Gladion only talked if someone talked to him first or he had a point to make, but it wasn’t too bad. At one point Sun and Moon had started arguing because he had brought up the bitter versus sweet thing again.

“Goodness, you really take your Malasada seriously, Sun,” Ilima commented.

“The bitter ones are so gross!”

Moon scowled at him. “Fine, then me and Gladion are just gonna sit here and be gross together.”

“Gladion and I, Moon,” Lillie corrected. Moon huffed at her with a pout.

“You know what I meant.”

“I don’t think the bitter ones are that bad,” Kiawe said to Sun, “They’re not my favorite, but they’re not terrible.”

Sun made a disgusted face. “Y’all are gross.”

“I called it, didn’t I, Gladion?” Moon spoke up, turning her head toward the blond.

He looked confused for a moment before he nodded. “Yup.”

“Called what?” Hau asked, munching into the last bit of his treat.

“I told Gladion Sun was going to make fun of us for liking bitter Malasadas.”

Sun huffed. “I’m not making fun of you, I’m judging you. There’s a difference,” he grumbled. He sat there frowning at her for a moment before his eyes lit up and he leaned forward across the table toward her. “So, Moony, care to invite me over for dinner tonight?” Moon blinked at him a few times, eyes wide, not sure what to say.

“I mean, after all, you invited Ilima, why not invite some of you other friends?” Sun was grinning eagerly at her, leaning halfway across the whole table now.

Moon’s face fell into a hard line. “Because if my mom meets any more of my guy friends she’s going to embarrass me to death.”

Sun looked confused, but Ilima was chuckling at that. “But your mother was so nice!” he said with a little whine, “She just wants to meet your friends!”

“No, she wants me to date my friends,” Moon shot back, face still in that hard line.

Now Sun was grinning again. “Ooh, Moon, I never knew you were so forward!”

“Drop dead,” Moon snarled at him.

The comment startled him only for a moment before the smile was back. “Come on, I don’t have to work, so I could totally come by your house for a while!”

Hau smiled. “I haven’t been to your house either. Can I come too?”

Moon groaned. The cute little smile on Hau’s face. How was she supposed to say no to that? She was doomed.

“Well, fine, while we’re at it, anyone else want to come to my house so my mom can tease me for the rest of my life? Kiawe? Gladion?” Moon was waving her arms as she spoke.

Kiawe smiled sheepishly. “I have to help out at the ranch tonight. Maybe some other time, though? I’d love to see your place.”

Moon wouldn’t admit that she was a little disappointed he couldn’t come.

“Why didn’t you invite me?” Lillie asked with a pout.

“Because you already wanted to visit anyway. For all I know you could stop by tomorrow.”

Lillie huffed and looked at her brother. Gladion only shrugged. “I’ve got other things going on.”

“You do not, you liar,” Lillie grumbled at him.

Moon patted Lillie’s hand where it set on the table. “Lils, I wasn’t being serious. I’d really prefer not to have a ton of people at my house for my mom to tease me about.”

“Oh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dunno. Didn't sleep very well, so I wrote until this 1 in the morning the other day... I need a sleep aid or something. Ugh.


	14. Boys In Moon's Room

Having Sun and Hau at her house was just as horrific as Moon had pictured. Her mother was gushing over them. She of course recognized Hau and greeted him as ‘the sweet boy from the mall’ before turning to Sun and cooing about his ‘strong jaw and sharp eyes.’

It made Moon want to die.

Hau had noticed Meowth pretty fast, and quickly snatched her up off the floor. “Kitty!”

Sun was looking around. He touched the vase full of flowers her mother had set on their coffee table. “Nice place,” he said, before looking at Moon, “Which room is yours?”

“You’re not allowed in there,” Moon snapped at him.

“Now, sweetie, be nice!” her mother cooed, “After all, they’re guests! Her room is that one over there!”

“Mooooooom! You’re not supposed to want boys in my room!” Moon whined, face bright red.

Sun winked at her as he went to check out her room. Hau followed behind him, Meowth cradled in his arms, and Moon followed with a groan.

Hau plopped himself down on Moon’s bed, shifting the cat to his lap. Sun was looking at the TV and game system she had. “Wanna play a few rounds?” he asked, looking at the girl who lived in that room. With a huff, Moon agreed and sat down next to him and they both played several battle brawl games. It was a pretty even match up.

Moon could hear Hau babbling to Meowth behind her. “Such a pretty kitty. Good kitty. Who’s a pretty cat? Who’s got a big coin on their forehead? What a good kitty.” It distracted her and she lost.

When her mother called them for dinner, she of course started asking questions.

“So, are you and Moon in a lot of classes together?”

Sun grinned at the question. “Are we? We’re in practically every class together! And not only that, we’re locker buddies!”

Moon groaned, hitting her head against the table.

“Really?” her mother smiled at him.

“Yup! Sun and Moon! Lockers twenty and twenty one! Right next to each other! Isn’t it cool? It’s like fate!”

Her mother was beaming. “It is like fate!” she agreed, “It sounds like you and my daughter are destined to be together!”

“MOM!” Moon wailed, face going scarlet. Hau was humming at her with a smile.

Sun waggled his eyebrows at the embarrassed girl. “Ya hear that Moon? Destined to be together!”

Moon let her head drop to the able again. “I hate you so much…”

“Now sweetie, don’t say that! He’s your friend, isn’t he?”

“He’s evil in a human body,” Moon muttered.

Hau’s phone went off in the middle of all this and he fumbled with it a bit before finally answering. “Alola!” He listened to the voice for a moment before standing up. “No I- Yes, Tutu, I was going to call you…. I forgot. We went to get Malasadas and… Yeah, my friend Moon! She invited us over for dinner! Okay…! Okay, yes! Okay Tutu!”

Moon looked at Sun. “It’s his grandpa,” he whispered, “Probably wondering why he’s not home yet.”

“Hau’s grandfather lives with his parents?”

Sun frowned. “What? No, Hau lives with his grandpa, Hala. Didn’t we tell you about this?” Moon shook her head no and he huffed. “Oh… Well, yeah, Hau lives with his grandfather. His parents had an accident when he was little, so Hala raised him.”

“What a sweet man!” Moon’s mother commented, “He sounds like a wonderful person!”

Moon was surprised to hear that. She would never have guessed someone so cheerful all the time lost their parents tragically. His grandfather must have done a great job raising him. Hau seemed like he happiest person on the planet.

He came back to the table, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry about that. Tutu was just checking in.”

“That’s quite all right,” her mom said, smiling warmly at Hau.

When her friends finally left the house, Moon chose to wait on the couch, accepting her fate. She waited for her mother’s teasing to begin.

“What wonderful boys!” Was how it began.

“Yup.”

Her mother sighed. “My goodness, sweetie, now you’ve got three to choose from. And they’re each so wonderful!”

“Looks like it.”

“Which one would you pick?” her mother asked.

Moon sighed. “Mom, why do you care so much?”

With a shrug, she said, “I never had a situation like this growing up. The only boy I ever liked was your father. You’ve got so many to choose from! It’s just so exciting!”

Moon sighed again. “Yeah, well, don’t get your hopes up too much. Sun says Hau likes Lillie,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.

“Have I met Lillie yet?”

“No, you haven’t,” Moon said, “But she’s super sweet and if Hau actually does like her, then I really think they’d be the perfect couple.”

“You think so?” Her mother looked surprised.

Moon nodded. “They’re adorable together.”


	15. Relaxing In The Library

Moon was drinking a smoothie as she walked to school today. Since Sun and Hau came over to her house for dinner her mother was still talking about it. She could only imagine if Kiawe ever visited. Like, hello mom this is my extremely attractive friend who is always shirtless and also is sweet as fuck are you sure you want Sun to date me? She snorted picturing that.

Moon bumped into Mina as she walked inside. She apologized quickly, but noticed a canvas in her hands. When she asked what it was, Mina lifted it up to show a painting of her holding an Alolan Meowth in her lap.

At first Moon wondered when that happened, but seeing the color of the floor and a very distinct red sneaker attached to a leg wearing black pants, Moon knew exactly when this was. “Oohh, this was from when Nanu brought his Meowth to class!”

Mina nodded. “Yup. I finally got around to painting it,” she said, “I was just about to go hang it up.”

“All right, I’ll see ya later then!” Moon headed off to her locker. Her face broke into a grin when she saw a picture of her mom’s Meowth taped to her locker. It was clearly a shot of her in Hau’s lap, taken from above. Hau sure loved taking pictures of cute sleeping Pokemon.

The picture was a nice surprise. Making sure no one would steal it this time, Moon took it and taped it to the inside of her locker instead. Now she would have something nice to look at in the mornings.

“Hey.”

Moon turned her head toward the voice and smiled when she saw it was Gladion. “Don’t you mean Alola?”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. How was the suffering?”

“It was about how I expected, honestly,” she replied, “My mom thinks that Sun and I having lockers next to each other means we’re fated to get married and have kids. You know, stupid mom stuff…” Gladion only ‘hmphed’ in response.Moon gave him a curious look. “What’s up? Did you need to talk or something?”

“Not really,” he said, looking a little bored, “Just saw you at your locker and wanted to stop by and see if you were dead inside yet.”

Moon chortled. “Well, that’s a cheerful thought. Thanks for that, Gladion.”

Sun shouted a loud greeting at them as he came to his locker. “Hey there, future wife,” he teased.

“I’m filing a divorce.”

Gladion snickered at that, and Sun stuck his tongue out, blowing a raspberry.

Moon felt a couple soft pats on the shoulder and looked at Gladion. He was already behind her, though, walking away to his class. “I’ll catch ya later.”

“Okay,” Moon replied, “If I survive that long!”

Sun pouted at her. “That’s not very nice! I’m your future husband after all!”

Moon rolled her eyes, sipped her drink, and said, “If we’re getting married you’re gonna have to realize that I am not nice.”

“But you offered me your towel the other day when it rained!” Sun argued.

“Can it, Number Two.”

Sun tripped a little in his walking beside her. “Noo! You’ve gotta be kidding me! You can’t remember jack shit, but you remember that?!”

Moon only grinned as she finished off her smoothie.

“Last day of the swim unit, eh, Sun?” she teased after tossing out her cup, “And you still haven’t seen me in a bikini once.”

Sun huffed. “There’s still hope. Maybe someone will have a beach party.”

Their English professor was letting them have a free period today. He told them if they wanted to go somewhere he would write them a pass. Sun asked for a pass to the gym. The others looked at him with confused faces, but when he winked they figured he probably just wanted to wander the halls.

Moon went up and asked for a pass to go to the library. Lillie asked for the same and Lana asked for a pass to the gym so she could wander around with Sun.

“Aren’t you supposed to have a free period anyway?” Moon asked Lillie, once they were out of the room.

“Yeah,” Lillie replied, “But it looks like you overbooked your schedule. You asked to sign up for Battle Tactics and Home Ec, didn’t you?”

“No!” Moon looked shocked, “My mom filled out the forms! I didn’t know you had to ask to get into those classes!”

Lillie pouted, chewing her lower lip a bit. “Well, most students don’t have to ask about Battle Tactics, but since you’re not technically in that grade, you probably were offered the chance and got lucky they accepted you in. Your free period would have been either during that or during Home Ec, since you got over-scheduled.”

Moon huffed, crossing her arms. “I’ve been here for three weeks and I never even realized… Geeze…”

“You could always drop a class if you really wanted a free period,” Lillie offered.

“No way!” Moon said just before pushing open the doors to the library, “I love both of those classes! I get to hang out with you, Hau and Mallow in Home Ec and I get to see the guys and Mina and Acerola during Battle Tactics! There’s no way I’m dropping either class!”

Lillie smiled, cheeks going a little bit pink and turned her attention to the attendant behind the desk. She and Moon handed off their passes and Lillie quickly scurried over toward one small corner of the library. Moon frowned, but followed after her.

When Moon got around a bookshelf, she saw why Lillie had hurried off. Gladion was sitting in one of the chairs in that corner. He looked up when she greeted him.

“I knew I’d find you here!” she said excitedly, yanking a chair over closer to his. Lillie turned her head and waved Moon over. “C’mon, Moon, pull up a chair! Sit with us!”

Gladion looked confused to see them both there. Moon pulled over a chair that didn’t look as comfy as the big cushy seats the two siblings had, but when Lillie tried to offer up her own seat, Moon said she was fine.

“What are you two doing here?” Gladion finally asked, finger in the middle of his book to keep his place, “Don’t you have an actual class?”

“Nice to see you too, brother,” Lillie teased, “Our professor gave us the period to do whatever we wanted, so Moon and I decided to come to the library!”

“Did you do it just to bug me?”

Moon stood up as Gladion asked that. “Well, I actually wanted to try and find a book, so…” She walked away and began her search. After skimming her fingers over two whole rows on a nearby shelf she found a book that sounded interesting. The back cover said it was about a girl trapped in an evil version of her own world. Sounded neat.

She came back to the siblings and sat herself in her chair again. Lillie leaned forward to see what book she was reading, then nodded and got her notebook out and began scribbling. It was silent between the three of them after that, but it was pretty nice. Only the occasional flap of them turning a page and the soft scratch of Lillie’s pencil.

It was getting close to the end of the period and Moon sat there frowning. She was only a quarter of the way through the book and so far it was really interesting. She wanted to check the book out, but since she only really had lunch as her free period, she didn’t think she would be able to return it on time.

“What’s with the face?” Gladion asked, breaking her from her dilemma.

With a sigh, Moon held up the book. “It’s really good…”

“And that’s why you looked upset?” The blond boy asked with a frown.

“No, that’s not it,” Moon said, “I want to check it out but I don’t have a free period to return it during.”

Gladion looked surprised to hear that. “It’s true,” Lillie said before he could speak, “I checked her schedule. She’s booked because she wanted to be in Home Ec with me and Battle Tactics with you!”

Moon continued fiddling with the book, but she paused when Gladion spoke again.

“Check the book out,” he said, earning a confused head tilt from Moon, “I have a free period first thing every morning. I’ll return it for you whenever you’re done.”

“Really?”

He rolled his shoulders. “Yeah, sure, why not?” Lillie was praising him and cooing about how he was being nice and he was scowling because of it. Moon just thanked him with a big smile and went to check out the book. She was confused at first when he followed her, but he held up his book and she understood.

“Thanks again,” Moon said to him, “It shouldn’t take me more than a couple of days to finish this!”

Lillie hurried over to the two of them so they could all leave together. “It’s nothing,” Gladion said, not looking at either of them.

When they exited, the three of them were met by Sun and Lana. The black haired boy grinned at them. “How was the library, nerds?”

Lillie started to answer, but Moon stopped her. “How was the gym?” she countered back.

Sun rolled his eyes. “I didn’t go. I just walked around with Lana.”

“Oh, so you were just ditching? You lied to the professor huh?”

“Oh, please, Moon, practically everyone probably lied just so they could get out of that room,” Sun said.

Moon crossed her arms in front of her and shook her head with a soft click of the tongue. “Liars make the best businessmen. I think you’ll earn all the money you want, Sun.”

Sun frowned. “Is that supposed to insult me?”

Moon grinned at him now. “Well, I know for a fact my future husband isn’t going to be a boring businessman. Looks like you’re going to have to find a different wife.” Sun stomped one foot down when he said that and started arguing with her. The others quickly had to separate them. Lana dragged Moon to Breeding and the siblings pulled Sun in the other direction.

“What was all that future husband junk?” Lana asked her once they were away from him.

“Oh,” Moon huffed, “My mom thinks Sun and I are destined to get married so he’s been teasing me about that since yesterday.”

Lana laughed a little bit. “Would you even want to marry Sun?”

“I would marry professor Molayne before I marry his annoying ass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to update twice today


	16. Shopping (((Guess who is sick and is posting because they can't leave their ginger ale...)))

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Answer- it's me.  
> not feelin too hot this april 3rd, my guys... feelin p sick

                During lunch Moon was reading her book some more. Mallow was trading the egg off to Kiawe, and Moon paused long enough to see if it looked any different. It didn’t.

                As she read, Moon leaned against Hau, using him as a back support. He didn’t seem to mind at all. He just smiled and kept eating his food.

                “Ooh, I’ve read that one!” Acerola said at one point. Moon looked up at her. “It’s really good! I won’t spoil the ending for you, but it’s good!”

                “I’ve read that one too,” Mina commented, “I didn’t really enjoy it all that much.” Acerola looked offended. “There were some nice visuals in the story, but I just didn’t understand some of the plot.”

                Moon shrugged. “I’m only on like chapter six, so I’m not really at most of the plot yet.”

                “Yeah, that doesn’t start up ‘til like chapter sixteen!” Acerola said with a smile. Ilima asked the two of them what the book was about, and Moon chose that moment to tune them out.

                “Did you know Moon doesn’t have a single free period during her day?” Lillie asked the table with a smile. A few of them looked surprised.

                “Why not?” Kiawe asked, looking at Moon, breaking her from her book again.

                “I’m in Home Ec and Battle Tactics,” Moon replied, “I didn’t know they were considered extra electives.”

                “Couldn’t you just drop something?” Sun asked her.

                Moon didn’t even turn her head to look at him as she replied. “I like both classes too much to drop them. I can just suffer without a free period for a while.”

                “I don’t have a free period either,” Ilima said, “What with my shadowing the art professor.”

                “Yeah, me neither,” Mina said, “It’s not so bad, though. You get used to it pretty fast.”

                “I already was used to it,” Moon said, “I didn’t even realize you were supposed to have a free period until Lillie mentioned it to me.”

                Moon was in a little bit of a tough spot when it came time for PE. She had remembered her suit, but not her towel. Where the heck did she leave it?

                “At least it’s the last day I’ll need it,” she mumbled to herself, getting changed.

                Ilima was the one to comment on the fact that she didn’t have her towel. “I forgot it” Moon groaned, “Probably left it sitting somewhere stupid like on my bed.” Sun was snickering at her, hearing that. Moon put her fists on her hips and rounded on him. “Well, you know, you could return the favor I did for you, Sun!”

                “What favor?” Kiawe asked.

                “I let him use my towel the day it rained so he could dry off,” Moon answered, hands still on her hips.

                Ilima offered his own towel when it became obvious Sun wasn’t going to do it.

                “Nah, it’s fine, Ilima,” Moon said, giving up, “I’ll just have to deal with it. It’s only one day.”

                Since it was the last day, their professor was letting them do what they wanted. Moon was lounging with her elbows up on the edge of the pool. The boys were having a pretty ferocious splash fight. Gladion had tried to get out of it, but Hau and Sun took that moment to target him specifically.

                He swam over and rested his arms up on the edge, huffing and spitting water out of his mouth. He was facing away from the others, so he couldn’t see the frown Sun sent his way, but Moon saw it and returned the frown by sticking her tongue out at the boy.

                “You’re both just a couple wusses!” he shouted.

                Gladion didn’t turn back toward him, he just lifted his arm to flip him off.

                Moon smiled and looked down at the blond. He used his hand to brush his wet bangs out of his face and quickly moved them back with a sharp inhale. He didn’t move them back fast enough for Moon to not see what he was trying to hide.

                She dropped herself down into the water next to him so she could look at him eye level.

                “Gladion,” Moon quickly put her hand on his shoulder, turning him toward her a bit, “What happened to your eye?”

                He jerked her hand off his shoulder. “Nothing.”

                “Gladion it's purple... You have a black eye,” Moon said, pushing his bangs aside. He sighed, looking ashamed.

                “Don’t tell Lillie,” was all he said.

                Moon didn’t say anything at first, just looking at the ugly bruising around his eye. He gave her a pleading look and she huffed a little. “Will you at least tell me what happened?”

                He turned his head away from her, the hair covering the injury again. “It’s not important,” he said, resting his arms back on the edge of the pool.

                “It’s important enough that you don’t want your sister knowing,” Moon countered, resting herself beside him. “Is that what happened with your arm? The same thing?” Gladion stayed quiet after that. Moon had to sigh. She wasn’t going to get anywhere. The little bit she got was all Gladion was going to give her. “I won’t tell her…”

                “Thanks.”

                Moon kept a close eye on him after that. She could see that he was trying to use is hair to hide the bruises from the others. It worked really well when it was dry. Moon hadn’t even noticed during their time in the library or during lunch. And since he was so adamant about her not knowing, obviously Lillie hadn’t noticed it either.

                She really wanted to know what had happened to give him all those bruises. Did he get into a fight?

                When they got to Battle Tactics, Moon got a quite a shock as Nanu pulled Gladion aside and asked him about the black eye. How had he noticed it but no one else did? She looked at the other two boys, but Ilima and Kiawe hadn’t seemed to have heard. Moon paused and listened to Gladion’s answer.

                “Nothing… Family stuff…”

                Moon sat down, biting her lower lip. Family stuff? What did that mean?

                She looked at the blond when he sat next to her. Judging by the scowl he gave her, he didn’t want to talk. Moon wanted to, though. She really really wanted to talk to him about this.

                “If you ever want to talk-“

                “You wouldn’t understand,” Gladion cut across her.

                “Maybe I would if you’d just tell me,” Moon whispered back to him.

                “You won’t,” he affirmed again, “You won’t understand, so leave me alone. Just shut up and stay in your perfect little world like everyone else.”

                Moon was a little taken aback by that comment. She flinched away from him with a sad frown.

                She gathered up her confidence quickly, though, and hissed at him, “Hate to break it to you, asshat, but you’re part of my world.” He scoffed in reply and turned his body away from her a bit.

                Kiawe whispered to her at one point after that. “Another fight?”

                Moon grimaced and looked at Gladion before looking back to Kiawe. “It’s complicated,” was all she told him. The older boy nodded, though and left it at that.

                Gladion tried to leave the room before the others, but Moon stopped him before he could. He glowered down at her, looking ready to scream in her face. Moon handed him the book she checked out and his face softened to a confused scowl.

                “You can return this,” Moon snapped, “I don’t think I want to finish it.” And she pushed past him and walked out of the room.

                He called after her. “Moon, come on!” She ignored him as she opened up her locker. “Moon, just keep the book.”

                “Why?” Moon asked him with a hard scowl.

                “You’re being stupid,” he growled in response, “Just read the damn book.”

                She looked at it as he held it out toward her. “You know, for someone who wanted to be left alone, you sure are persistent in bugging me.”

                “We’ve already argued like this before,” Gladion said, “Why can’t you just let it go? Why do you care about my problems? They’re none of your business.”

                “You’re right, we _have_ argued like this before,” Moon spat, “And both times I’ve just wanted to help.”

                Gladion opened his mouth to say more, but was interrupted when Lillie came over to the two of them. Moon pointedly raised her eyebrows at him, waiting to see what he would do now. He just huffed, dropping his arms to his sides. “Ready to go?” he asked Lillie.

                Lillie nodded and the two of them left. Moon grumbled as she closed her locker, watching them walk off.

                “Ooh, did something happen?” Sun’s voice beside her made her only tense up more.

                “Sun, do you ever just want to punch Gladion in the face?”

                “All the time,” Sun replied.

                Moon was so glad it was Friday. She wouldn’t have to deal with any of them all weekend if she didn’t want to. She went for a jog after dropping her stuff off at her house. She wanted to punch things, but she chose to run off her anger instead.

                Halfway through her run she got a text. She had her earbuds in her phone, so she was able to listen to the message. Lillie was asking if she wanted to go to the mall.

                She pulled her phone out with a frown. “That depends,” she wrote back, “Is it just going to be us?”

                “Well, I was hoping to invite Ilima along. He always knows what clothes look good on me if mother’s not around to help. Did you want it to just be a girl’s night out?”

                Moon thought on the text for a moment. “No, that sounds nice. I’d like it if Ilima came with us too.” Ilima was nice and responsible. And very level headed. Moon could use company like him right about now. The two planned when they would meet and where in the mall, and Moon hurried home to change out of her sweaty clothes.

                She grabbed some money, said goodbye to her mom, and rushed to shop. Her two friends were waiting for her just inside the front doors of the mall.

                “Alola,” she greeted, feeling a little bit chipper now that she got to see them.

                Ilima’s signature heart fluttering smile hit her fast. “Alola, Moon!” He greeted back, voice lilting like a sweet song.

                Lillie smiled at Moon as well. “Ready to go?” Moon nodded and they went off. She was going to try and not let the second fight with Gladion ruin this time with her friends. Lillie kept looking at pretty pastel colored dresses, but would walk away from them. Each time she walked away from one, Ilima would push her back and talk with her about why she didn’t like the outfit.

                “I just don’t think it would suit me,” Lillie said, looking at a pale blue dress. Moon frowned. She felt like the dress would look fine on her.

                Ilima rubbed his chin and looked at it and then at her. “I think we need to see you in it to decide.” Lillie tried to argue, but Ilima was already pulling a dress in her size out and walking her to the changing room. Moon followed, lazily running her fingers over clothes as she went. While Lillie was in there changing, Moon was looking at some clothes too. She found a pink dress and at first she liked it, but when she felt the fabric she flinched back away from it. Ilima gave her a confused look, but she just moved to the next outfit.

                She paused when Lillie came back out. She had an uncomfortable look on her face. “I feel silly,” Lillie mumbled.

                “What?! Lillie you look adorable!” Moon whined, “It looks great on you!”

                The blonde girl’s cheeks went pink. Ilima was looking her over, rubbing his chin again. “Hmmmm… I have to agree with Moon. The color looks nice against your skin. You would look better in something darker, but it’s definitely your style.”

                Lillie fiddled with the hem of the dress, chewing her lip. “I don’t know… I feel like mother wouldn’t approve.”

                “What wouldn’t she approve of?” Moon asked with a huff, “It looks nice on you. It’s not super slutty or revealing. And you need to wear something other than white for once. It’s weird.” Lillie was spluttering and blushing, but Ilima asked Moon why it was weird. “You and Gladion have this weird yin and yang thing going on. He always wears black and you’re always in white.”

                Ilima hummed. “How had I not noticed that?” He scrutinized Lillie for a moment. “Yin suits Lillie for sure.”

                “Well, okay, okay, maybe I’ll keep this one in mind,” Lillie huffed.

                Moon watched her go back into the changing room with a hard scowl. Ilima noticed the look and asked, “What’s wrong?”

                “Nothing.” Moon replied far too quickly.

                Ilima’s face fell into an unconvinced frown. “Is it Gladion again?”

                “I can’t talk about it,” Moon grumbled. And so Ilima pulled out his phone and began typing away.

                “What happened?” he wrote to her in a text.

                “He won’t let me know,” Moon replied, looking up at him after she sent it.

                Ilima sighed. “I’ve told you not to push him. You’re only making it worse.”

                Moon’s fingers tapped hard against the screen of her phone. Her shoulders were tense and her teeth were chewing on her lower lip. “It wouldn’t be worse if he would just talk to me! All I want to do is help!”

                “That’s not how it works with Gladion,” Ilima wrote back, “You have to let him come to you. It’s like dealing with a scared wild Pokemon. Just give him space and if he wants help he’ll ask for it.”

                Moon looked at Ilima with a pout now. “How do you know?” she asked aloud.

                “Huh?” Lillie had just stepped out of the room and looked between them, confused, “What are we talking about?”

                “It’s nothing, Lillie,” Ilima said, patting her on the shoulder and taking the dress from her, “I’ll hold onto this while we keep looking around for more clothes.” He glanced at Moon once before they all started walking. Moon could see he still had his phone in his hand, so she knew he was going to text her the answer to her question.

                “I helped him once before,” Ilima wrote after a bit, “He had accidentally ruined one of Lillie’s outfits and didn’t want her finding out, so he approached me and asked for help.”

                Moon scowled at that text. “This isn’t like that,” she wrote back, “I can’t explain it, but this is worse.”

                “It’s the same principal,” Ilima replied, looking over his shoulder at her briefly, “If he wants help, he has to be the one to ask for it. He won’t accept help that’s offered to him.”

                “I hope you’re right.”


	17. I Pictured You As A Fairy Fan

When Moon was walking home with her bags from the shopping, she heard her phone go off. Confused, she took it out to see who it was. A group message from Kiawe?

Opening it up, there was a photo of Kiawe with his sister beside him and a tiny pink Fomantis in her arms. “Guess what just hatched!” he wrote underneath.

Moon stopped walking immediately and gaped down at her phone. The egg already hatched?! What the fuck? She and Lana hadn’t even had their turns with the egg yet!

Mallow wrote back fast. “It’s a grass type too! Dammit Kiawe, you’ve had too much practice hatching Pokemon eggs! I knew I should’ve given it to Lana or Moon first!”

Lana texted next. “Well at least we know it hatched safe and healthy. How many eggs have you hatched now, Kiawe? Thirteen?”

“Eighteen,” he wrote back.

Moon smiled a little and typed too. “It’s so tiny!”

“It’s just a baby,” Mallow wrote, “It’ll get bigger as it grows.”

“Does this mean we have to bring it to class on Monday?” Moon asked them.

“Probably,” Lana wrote.

Moon hurried home with an excited smile on her face. She had to show her mom.

When she went to school that Monday, Moon almost turned around and ran away when she saw Gladion was waiting outside the gate. She already knew exactly who he was waiting for. Maybe if he didn’t look her way she could just sneak by hi- green eyes met hers. Fuck. She’s been spotted.

She tried to not look nervous as she kept walking toward the school. He pushed off the gate walls and walked next to her. He hadn’t said anything yet and neither had she. She got to her locker and noticed him reaching into the red bag he had. She paused in opening the little blue door.

He held his hand out, and in it was the book she had given back to him the other day. He had kept it with him over the weekend? She looked up from the book to his face curiously, but still didn’t speak.

“You should read it,” he said, voice quiet, “It was really good…”

Moon smiled a little bit and took it from him. “Sorry I got so mad at you,” she said, pulling the book close to her chest.

Gladion blinked at her a couple of times before looking away. “It’s fine… I’m used to it.” Moon returned to her locker and heard Gladion make a soft ‘tsk’ noise. “No, look, that’s not what I meant. I just. I mean. I overreacted.” She looked back at him, he had one hand against his face, under his bangs over the eye that was bruised and purple. “I’m… I dunno, I’m sorry too I guess. No, I… I just.” He looked like he was struggling.

Moon gently put her hand on his one arm that was crossed and supporting the one touching his face. He stopped his muttering and looked at her. “It’s okay. I know what you mean.”

Gladion stared at her for a moment before smiling a little. “Well… Good. At least one of us does.” Moon laughed at that and his smile grew.

“Not good with words, huh?” Moon asked, turning back to her locker. Ilima was right. It had been a few days since their fight and Gladion had approached her. She was keeping his words in mind from now on. Just give Gladion space and eventually things will just work out.

“Lillie’s always been the social Butterfree,” Gladion said, leaning against the locker next to hers.

Moon raised an eyebrow at him, tucking her new PE clothes into her locker, “What does that make you?”

“Trubbish.”

She was definitely happy to have the book back with her. Because their egg had already hatched, their group didn’t have anything else to really do during Breeding. The Fomantis was absolutely adorable and Mallow wanted to keep it. Their professor had been so surprised when Kiawe walked in with it.

“Kiawe’s family has tons of Pokemon on their ranch,” Mallow explained, “He’s helped breed tons of Miltank and Mudbray and stuff. He’s an egg hatching expert.”

Their professor took the Fomantis with a surprised look on his face. “My goodness, I guess so!” The Fomantis was very lively and wriggled all over the place. It kept poking at the professor’s arms. “It certainly seems healthy.”

The rest of the class had their eggs examined by the professor to see how they were doing. He said he would give their group an A. Lana grumbled that the one who really got the A was Kiawe.

“Sorry,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, “It was pink, so Hoshi wanted to take care of it. It was practically a member of the family this weekend.”

“Lana and I didn’t even get a chance,” Moon said with a huff, pulling the book out of her bag. Kiawe apologized again.

When Moon opened up the book, a little paper fluttered out from the pages. When she picked it up she saw it was a little bookmark. It had a picture of a Sneasel on it. Gladion really hadn’t been kidding when he said he read it. She smiled and held it as she read more of the book. When class ended she tucked it inside the book.

She was still worried about Gladion, of course. Knowing that he had a massively bruised black eye and knowing that he was hiding it from his sister made her really worried for him. She wanted to know what happened, but she had to keep reminding herself of what Ilima told her. Just give him space. If he needs help, he’ll ask.

That was basically her mantra all throughout the day. Each time she thought about him she would tell herself that.

“You okay Moon?” Sophocles’ voice interrupted her thoughts in Math.

She looked up at him and quickly said, “Oh, yeah, yeah, just… thinking…”

“You looked upset,” he said.

Moon tried to smile convincingly. “That’s just how I look when I think sometimes.” The others were looking at her now too, so she tried a little harder on that smile. “I was just thinking about something Ilima told me, honest guys, that’s it.”

None of them looked convinced, but they dropped the subject. When the bell finally rang for them to leave for lunch, she was all too happy. Hau sprinted from the room. It was apparently something good today. Sun quickly raced after him, shouting to Hau to grab one for him too.

“What are they so excited about?” Moon asked, looking at Lillie and Sophocles, “They don’t do Malasadas for lunch do they?”

“Nah,” Sophocles answered, “They’re excited because it’s extra stuffed pizza day.”

“Extra stuffed?”

“The crust is stuffed, it has extra toppings, extra cheese automatically, and it comes with tater tots,” he said, “They hardly ever have that here, though, cuz it’s expensive. But the students like it, so the school will sometimes spend the extra coin to improve morale.”

Lillie laughed beside him. “If they wanted to improve morale, they should introduce a Malasada day.”

“Yeah, but if they do that, then they run the risk of getting sued…”

Moon saw Sun and Hau were already at the table when she got to the cafeteria. They each had big trays with little personal pizzas in front of them. She stopped walking to smile and chuckle a little bit. They had both run to get them before anyone else. Imagine how fast they would run if they ever did a Malasada day.

Moon ended up being one of the last ones to get to the table. The only one slower than her was Gladion, and that was kind of normal by this point. He was always last. There was space next to Lana and there was space next to Lillie. Moon figured Gladion would want to sit next to his sister, so she went and sat by Lana with a small smile.

Mallow, Lana, Moon and Kiawe were each talking about the egg situation during lunch. Hau was disappointed he didn’t get to meet the baby Fomantis. Kiawe showed him some photos of it, though, and that seemed to cheer him up.

“I still wish it had been a shiny Pachirisu,” Sophocles commented.

“That’s just because you like electric types!” Mallow chided him, wagging a finger, “I’m perfectly happy with it being a grass type!”

Moon pulled out the book after that point, taking out the bookmark and setting it on the table. Immediately after she did, Sun snatched it up and squinted at it.

He smirked. “Wow, Moon, never pictured you as a Sneasel fan!” He waved the little paper back and forth, that smug grin plastered to his face. “I imagined you as more of a fairy fan!”

Moon scowled hard at him. She saw Gladion leaning forward, but she spoke before he could. “You really shouldn’t judge people, Sun,” he rolled his eyes, and she smiled, “But hey, since it’s something you’re good at, maybe I’ll let it go.”

Sun pouted after that comment. Lillie was looking at the bookmark too. “That looks like your bookmark, Gladion,” she said to the older blond, loud enough that Sun and Moon both heard.

The grin spreading across Sun’s face made Moon want to hurl. He looked so full of himself.

“It was his,” Moon said, turning her head to Lillie, “But I told him I liked Sneasel, so he let me have it.”

If Gladion was surprised to hear that lie, his face didn’t show it. “She kind of took it before I could argue,” he said, just adding to the story.

Moon huffed, hoping her acting was decent, “Well, you didn’t say you wanted it back. How was I supposed to know?”

Sun was frowning at her, but he set the bookmark down in front of her. “I still say you look more like a fairy type trainer…” Moon only rolled her eyes and went back to reading.

Going to PE was so nice. Moon was finally able to change into something without having to even think about water or her hair being a wet mess or the smell of chlorine. She just pulled on her shorts and sneakers and hopped out into the gym.

It didn’t take her long to notice the speakers standing on the far right side of the gym. Speakers could only mean one thing…

She turned her head toward Kiawe. He had the biggest, happiest, sunniest smile she had ever seen on his face.

“Dance unit,” the voice beside her made her jump. Moon turned, saw it was Sun, and whacked his arm. “What was that for?” he asked with a frown.

“Don’t scare me like that!”

He rolled his eyes and walked toward where Ilima and Kiawe were already waiting. “Whatever… Little miss jumpy…”

Moon was happy standing and talking to the guys, but as the other students were beginning to realize what those giant speakers meant, more and more of them were slowly gathering around their group. She didn’t have to struggle to find out why. Three girls were asking Kiawe to be part of their group for the dance unit.

Sun yanked the taller boy over to his side. Kiawe was being too polite for his own good. He was so flattered by all the people asking to dance with him that he wasn’t really saying no to anyone.

“Kiawe’s already part of our group,” Sun snapped, “Back the fuck off.”

Gladion and Hau had walked over just as Sun said that, pushing their way through the little crowd of students.

Hau quickly jumped forward with a big smile. “Kiawe, you’re gonna dance with me this time, right?!”

Sun scowled. “No way,” he said, “It’s my turn this year!”

“Whose turn was it last year?” Moon asked. The answer she got was several fingers pointing at Ilima and a little wave from the pink haired boy.

“Wouldn’t it make sense for Moon to be Kiawe’s partner?” Ilima asked, “After all, she is new here and you two each have already danced with him before.”

Moon was bright red at that suggestion. She quickly tried to hide behind Gladion, waving her arms in front of her and shaking her head. “N-nah, nah! I’m not getting in the middle of this argument! Ju-just leave me out of it!”

Kiawe smiled at her. “I wouldn’t mind dancing with you, Moon,” he said. Moon pulled at her chest. His eyes were so warm and is smile was so friendly and inviting. How was she supposed to say no to that?

“No one is dancing with one person” their professor interrupted their conversation, “We’re doing squaredancing first, so you’ll be trading off partners and rotating around in your group. Now everyone be quiet so I can take attendance.”

Moon was only too thankful to hear that. If she danced with Kiawe she was sure she’d die. She couldn’t handle holding his hand, having him put an arm around her waist, feeling his breath as they moved, seeing how happy he looked- oh for fuck sake! Moon hid her face in her hands, blushing something fierce.

“And you wondered why Mallow and Gladion could tell,” Moon muttered to herself, “You’re such a fucking nerd.”

Sun gave her a curious look, but Moon waved him away dismissively.

“Wait,” Hau said, stopping their group as they walked to where everyone was supposed to be dancing, “Do we have an even number?”

“Yes, you idiot,” Gladion answered him, “There’s six of us.”

Hau counted it out on his fingers and smiled when it turned out Gladion was right. They all went and stood in a circle.

“All right, we’re going to start with just the footwork, so for now you don’t need to pair up.” Their professor started out teaching all of them the moves that both partners would need to do. He said they might not always be the lead, so he wanted to prepare them. Moon was just trying to keep up.

Her first partner was Ilima. Moon shouldn’t have been so surprised that he was graceful and danced perfectly, but she was. She felt so sluggish and clunky compared to him.

She blinked when she heard him giggle. Why was his giggle so cute? All of her friends were too cute. They needed to stop. “So I take it things worked themselves out? He asked, smiling. Wow his eyes were a pretty shade of blue…

“Huh?” Ilima’s eyes flicked over to Gladion and Moon immediately went, “Oohhhhhhh….!” He giggled again. “Yeah,” she said, “At least he’s not mad at me anymore…”

She kept her voice quiet, as did he when he said, “Well that’s good.”

“I still wish he would let me help him,” Moon sighed, looking over at the blond. Hau was his partner right now and seeing the two of them dance was honestly hysterical. Hau looked so happy and excited and Gladion looked like he would rather be anywhere but where he was.

Ilima shook his head with a soft click of his tongue. “It just doesn’t work like that,” he said, “He’s stubborn.”

“I know,” Moon huffed. They were rotating partners now, and who did Moon get but the guy she and Ilima were just talking about!

Gladion frowned and looked at his hands awkwardly. “So do you want to lead or should I?”

“I’m pretty sure I couldn’t lead even if I did want to,” Moon answered, holding out one hand, “We’d both probably end up in the hospital if I tried.” He laughed a little as he took her hand.

Being so close to him, Moon could easily see his black eye through his bangs. “Your eye is looking a little better,” she said in a hushed voice. She saw his shoulders tense up and felt his hands clench in their grip a bit, but it only lasted for a moment. “Sorry,” she whispered, “I’ll stop.”

Her time with Gladion as her dance partner was awkward and quiet after that. He was trying not to look at her, too, she noticed. Each time he did look at her, it was only briefly, and he would look away again.

Moon looked at Sun, who was her next partner, and said quickly, “If you make one comment about my dancing, I swear, I’ll stomp on your toes on purpose.”

Sun put a hand to his chest and bowed a little bit, grinning. “Why, Moon! What would make you think I would do something like that?” He held out a hand and Moon took it with a heavy frown.

Sun had that same stupid grin on his face as he put a hand around her waist. Moon was so, so tempted to hit him. The itch was right there. It was calling out to her.

She wanted to hit him the entire time she danced with him. But now it was time for her to dance with Kiawe and she was kind of wishing she could take Sun back instead. She was already sure she was blushing.

“Don’t worry,” Kiawe said “It’s okay to be nervous. If you step on my toes, I won’t tell anyone.”

Moon chuckled nervously and tugged at her shirt. That wasn’t exactly why she was nervous. It was more the fact that she was going to be pressed up against his shirtless, muscular chest. This was so different from the Charizard ride. During that he couldn’t see her face and she was against his back. Now she was going to be nose to nose with him! Well, more or less…

She tried to watch her feet the entire time they danced and tried not to think about the fact that she could see his abs very very clearly.

When their dance was over Kiawe was beaming at her. “You did great! You had absolutely nothing to be nervous about!” Moon squeaked out a thank you and fiddled with her shirt again.

Moon had walked a little ways behind the guys as class ended. She was still feeling embarrassed. But as she walked and got closer to the exit, someone behind her bumped into her. Hard. She went tumbling to the ground, landing on her right knee and elbow. The guys each stopped, as did several other students, and looked at her. Hau was the first one to rush to her side, but the others followed pretty quickly.

“Are you okay? Did you trip?” Hau asked, looking her over. He looked at her shoes, probably checking if the laces wee loose. He and Ilima helped pull her back up to her feet.

She thanked them and rubbed at her elbow with a bit of a wince. “I think someone bumped into me,” she said after a moment.

Hau huffed, “They need to be more careful!”

Gladion and Sun both had doubtful looks on their faces and even exchanged glances. “I don’t think that’s it, Hau,” Sun said.

Hau turned around and looked at him. “Whaddyou mean?”

“Someone probably pushed her,” Gladion answered.

Hau jumped forward. “Why would they do that?! Moon’s a wonderful person! She’s so nice!”

“Yeah, but she got to dance with Kiawe,” Sun said with a bit of a huff.

“But we all did too!” Hau argued, puffing up his cheeks.

“She’s the only girl, though, Hau.” Hau’s face fell as Sun said that. The green haired boy turned back to Moon with a sad, sympathetic look on his face.

“So you’re saying someone pushed her because they were jealous?”

Ilima replied, “It would seem that way.”

Moon had been looking down at her feet during all this, but she looked up fast when she heard Kiawe say, “I’m sorry.”

He had a horrible, guilty look on his face. “I didn’t mean to cause this. I don’t want to see you get hurt because of me, Moon,” he said. Moon’s heart went out to him. She wanted to rush up, hug him, and tell him none of it was his fault. Seeing him sad made her sad.

“Kiawe, don’t blame yourself,” Ilima said, patting him on the shoulder, “You’re a very desirable dance partner and unfortunately quite a few people are resentful that they didn’t get a chance to have you today.”

“Ilima, how’d you get so smart?” Hau asked after that. The group laughed lightly after that. Hau was confused by it, but he had managed to lighten them up again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	18. Looks Like Her Life's Not So Perfect, After All, Edgelord

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody yelled at me for the shitty 4th wall break I did in chapter 16? nobody? it was terrible, nobody said "you fuckin dumbass" or nothin'.   
> you guys are too nice

Moon ended up with a pretty nasty bruise on her elbow. It looked bad and it felt bad. When she bent her elbow it would hurt, when she straightened her arm out it would hurt. She just couldn’t win.

Gladion had offered to watch for whoever pushed her and let them have it, but Moon had told him not to. She appreciated the sentiment, but she knew if he started a fight he’d get into more trouble than needed. That and he was already hurt. But she didn’t say that bit aloud.

She just would have to be careful and try not to get too close to anyone that wasn’t the guys in PE.

Moon was wandering around in a field of grass at the moment. She kind of wanted to catch another Pokemon but also kind of didn’t. She was conflicted. So she was just wandering for now. She thought about how most of her friends had type specialties. Kiawe was fire, Lana water, Mallow grass, Gladion… Something? Moon frowned. And Sun? And Hau? What about Lillie? Geeze, she didn’t even know if Lillie had any Pokemon period!

Maybe she would ask sometime.

She kind of wished she could go back to the school building and get advice from her friends. She was still muddling over Gladion’s injuries and could always use a little bit more scolding from Ilima to keep her in place… How could Lillie not know? Of all people, the first one that should have spotted his black eye should have been her. They lived together for crying out loud!

Huffing, Moon put her hands onto her hips and started walking back home. She didn’t feel like doing anything anymore.

When she got back her mom was on the phone. She sounded mad. Moon paused long enough to hear a very familiar name and knew she was talking to her father. Was he trying to get them to come home again? Moon rolled her eyes. Like that would ever happen.

She walked to her room and opened up her computer, bored and unsure of what to do. She noticed chat requests almost as soon as she logged in. She knew at the very least one had to be from Hau, so she just accepted them as a big group.

There was a pause while the others chose if they accepted the group chat or not, and then three faces blinked into existence on Moon’s screen. Lillie, Sun, and of course, Hau.

“Hey guys,” she greeted, “What’s up?”

“Nuthin’” Sun replied.

“Homework,” Lillie said.

Hau grinned into his camera. “I was playin a videogame!”

“Of course you were,” Moon hummed with a small smile.

“How’s the arm feeling?” Sun asked, earning a confused look from Lillie’s end.

“What? What arm? What happened?”

Moon sighed. “I fell in gym, Lils, it’s fine.”

“No, some shitfuck pushed you,” Sun snapped back immediately.

“Someone pushed you!?” Lillie shouted, leaning forward. Moon groaned and glared at Sun.

“Yeah, someone was jealous that Moon got to dance with Kiawe and they pushed her when it was time to leave.”

“Why didn’t any of you tell me?” Lillie asked, pouting and huffing unhappily, “Why didn’t Gladion?”

“Because I told everyone to just let it go,” Moon replied, “It’s not a big deal. It’s just some stupid kid reacting to not getting to be with their crush.”

Lillie huffed some more and muttered quietly to herself, “Not a big deal, not a big deal, that’s all I ever hear…”

Hau piped up at that point. “Maybe if they got to know you, they wouldn’t push you again! They’d see what a nice person you are and they’ll wanna be your friend!”

Moon smiled at the comment, but Sun spoke up. “If they’ve seen how she treats me, they’d know she’s not a nice person.”

She shrugged at the accusation. “I never really claimed to be nice.”

“Oh, Moon, you stop that,” Lillie tutted, “You’re a very nice person. You don’t give yourself enough credit.”

“Honestly I have to agree with Sun on this one,” Moon said in reply, “Back home I once convinced a kid that because my name was Moon that meant I could control the moon and if I ever got really mad I could destroy it if I wanted. He never talked to me again.”

Sun was cackling, Lillie was rubbing her forehead and sighing, and Hau was confused by her story.

“Ugh, you’re horrible,” Lillie grumbled.

“Thanks,” Moon replied with a smile.

“Moon, that’s the best thing I’ve ever heard in my life!” Sun said between his cackles, “You fuckin told ‘im you could destroy the Moon… Priceless.” He was shaking his head and wiping at one of his eyes.

Lillie’s head turned at one point and Moon could faintly hear a voice in the background of her video. Lillie interrupted the voice. “You wanna talk to Sun, Hau, and Moon?”

Each of them heard a quiet, but very distinct, “No.”

“Nice to see you too, Edgelord,” Sun said, leaning close to the mic of his computer.

Lillie got up and disappeared from view in her screen. When she came back she had a disappointed look on her face. “Sorry guys, I gotta go. We’re gonna have dinner soon.”

“I’m actually supposed to go soon, too,” Sun said, “How ‘bout we all just talk tomorrow at school?”

“Sounds cool. Bye everyone.”

“Bye!”

Meowth had wandered into Moon’s room during that at some point. She had curled up on Moon’s pillow. Moon decided to just leave her be.

The next morning, Moon immediately noticed that Lillie looked tired. Everyone noticed. She was always so put together, seeing her with her hair a bit messy and a slightly sleepy look on her face looked like she was the walking dead to them.

“Geeze, Lils, what the hell happened after our videochat?” Sun asked, “You look like you haven’t slept in days.”

“Okay, now that’s an exaggeration,” Moon said, patting him aside.

Lana stood beside her desk and asked, “Did you not sleep well?”

Lillie looked up at each of them and smiled. “I’m fine, everyone. No need to worry. I was just a bit rushed this morning.”

Sun whispered to Moon, “Let’s see how Mister Edge looks. If she looks tired I can’t imagine he looks any better.”

Moon rolled her eyes. “They’re two separate people, Sun,” she said, “Just because one of them didn’t get a good night’s sleep doesn’t mean the other shared the experience.”

“They just seem like they always have the same shit going on,” Sun grumbled, “Every time they have plans they both have the same plans, you know?”

“So you think they each had some sort of plan that kept them up super later, is that it?”

“Yes,” Sun hissed, trying to keep his voice quiet, “Of the two of them, Lillie actually has her shit together. So if something left her this ‘frazzled’” he waved his hands, “Then he’s gotta look like he was hit by a bus.”

Moon frowned at him. “I really don’t see your logic with this one.”

She did try and look to see if Gladion looked sleepy, though. Damn Sun had the idea planted in her head now. During lunch she had just stared at him for a good fifty seconds. He didn’t look very tired to her… He looked tense, but not tired. She could see how he had his shoulders squared up and could hear the sound of him tapping his foot.

What if Sun had been right? What if something actually had happened? Was Gladion hurt again?

Out of habit, Moon turned her head toward Ilima, who happened to be sitting right next to her during lunch today. He noticed her gaze and paused in his eating, to raise an eyebrow quizzically.

Moon glanced at the blond boy, Ilima’s eyes followed, and he returned his look to her and frowned, shaking his head ever so slightly.

Moon almost spoke aloud, just barely catching herself. She pulled out her phone with a huff and texted him. “But even Lillie seems upset!”

“Then talk to Lillie about it,” Ilima wrote back, face stern, “If you go poking at an Ursaring here, I’m not going to say I told you so.” Moon groaned and shoved her phone back into her pocket.

Almost immediately after she put her phone away, it went off again. Moon looked at Ilima, but he only shrugged. So she pulled it out and looked at the text. She knew that number… Why did she know that number…?

She opened the message and when she saw the first two words, she knew who it was from. “Hi honey…” Her father had always called her honey… Why was he being so adamant about contacting her and her mom all of a sudden? How did he even get her number?

She scowled and read out his message. It was essentially him begging and pleading with her to try and talk to her mom about coming back to him. Moon could see her knuckles going white with how hard she was gripping her phone. She wrote back a simple, firm, “No.” And blocked his number.

Now that she was thoroughly in a pissy mood, Moon took her tray, stood up, grumbled a very irritated sounding, “I’ve lost my appetite,” and walking off to dump her leftovers. She was sure all eyes were on her, but she didn’t care. She practically punched the doors to the cafeteria open and stomped down the halls.

There wasn’t really anywhere she could go, so she wandered around until she found herself standing in front of the Battle Tactics room. No one was in there this period, so she took the opportunity and slumped down against the wall just beside the door.

“Fucking dad,” she hissed to herself, “Why did he have to go and do that…?” Lillie and Gladion’s problems were weighing down on her harder than before. Here she was feeling bad about her ass of a father… She knew whatever was going on with those two had to be a lot worse than just dealing with a lying piece of shit. She didn’t want to sit in that room alone feeling sorry for herself. She wanted to be out there helping her friends.

She knew the bell was going to ring soon, but she couldn’t bring herself to get up. She heard the sound of footsteps, though, and knew a class was going to be coming in.

So she pushed herself up to her feet. “Mm?” Moon looked up at the soft hum.

“Professor Kukui,” she said, voice sounding more like a gasp than actual words.

“Ah, Moon, right?” Kukui asked, smiling a little, “What are you doing here? Don’t you have Battle Tactics with Nanu last period?”

Moon looked down. “Yeah,” she said, “Sorry. I just… Needed some time to think.”

She jumped a little when she felt a hand fall down onto her shoulder. She looked back up and saw the worried look on the older man’s face. “Hey, I know I may not be the counselor, but if you ever need to talk to anyone, you can always talk to me…” he paused and offered a small smile, “Kay?”

Moon smiled too. “Kay,” she replied with a bit of a sniffle. After another pat on her shoulder from Kukui, Moon left to go to her art class.

When she walked in, Lana, Sophocles and Ilima all immediately rushed up to her. “What the hell was up with that in lunch?” Sophocles asked first.

Ilima spoke quickly afterwards, not letting Moon answer yet. “I didn’t upset you, did I? I saw you had put your phone back rather roughly…”

Moon sighed. “Sorry… were you all really that worried?”

“Gladion went after you to see if he could find where you went,” Lana said, arms crossed in front of her, “He came back and said he couldn’t find you.”

“Sorry,” Moon said again.

“So,” Sophocles pressed, “What happened?”

With a huff, Moon replied, “It was just my dad…” She saw the surprised and confused looks on their faces, especially Ilima’s. “He was trying to get me to talk to mom about them getting back together. I wasn’t in the mood for that shit, so… I just kinda left.”

“My word, Moon, I had no idea of your family situation,” Ilima said in a soft voice, “I’m sorry.”

Moon rolled her shoulders. “It’s all right. I’m past the point of being sad about it. Now I’m mostly just angry and bitter.”

“What happened?” Lana asked.

“He was a lying, cheap bastard,” Moon replied, “He basically used my mom for her money so he would never have to work in his life.” The three of them inhaled painfully in response. “When mom found out she called everything off, packed up me and my shit with her, and we left.”

Moon was happy the others were sympathetic, but she didn’t really enjoy the whole situation. She groaned when she realized she would have to explain all of this again in PE.

They were doing model drawing in art that day. Ilima was their model. He wasn’t naked, but he was wearing a form fitting wet suit that Moon really wondered about. Did Ilima know how to waterski or something? It looked cute on him, at least. It was pink and had dark grey lines going down it, accenting the form of his body.

Their professor would have Ilima hold a pose for ten minutes before moving to the next one. Moon was having a really hard time actually drawing all of him. She wanted to focus on one area too much. Usually she was trying to draw his hair. It looked cute in real life, but trying to get that pink mass to look good on paper was almost impossible.

Moon smirked a little bit at the current pose he just took. Hands behind him, supporting himself up, arching his back ever so slightly, head tilted up. She could see a few girls on the other side of the stand he was on were blushing. The pose really just screamed pinup.

“Ilima, why are you so pretty?” Moon asked once class was done.

Ilima smiled, cheeks pink, and waved her comment away, thanking her for flattering him.

Moon had hardly gotten into the gymnasium when her wrist was yanked back by someone behind her. She turned, shocked.

Gladion was staring back at her. “What the fuck happened during lunch?”

She pulled her arm free with a bit of an annoyed groan. “You could have just asked, you didn’t have to nearly kill me…” He only crossed his arms over his chest and scowled, waiting. “It was my dad, okay?”

“Your dad?” he repeated, face not changing at all.

Moon sighed. “My dad and my mom split up before I moved here and he somehow got my number and was asking me to try and help him get back together with her.” Gladion’s expression softened a bit, and she continued. “It pissed me off. He called my mom last night, and him texting me right after irked me. I just needed time to cool off.”

The taller blond was quiet for a long moment after that. He was looking at his arms. Moon thought maybe he was done talking, but she waited anyway, just looking at him. Finally he looked back up at her. “Why’d they split up?”

The question was soft spoken, not something Moon really expected from Gladion, but she answered it either way. “My mom had a really well paying job back in Kanto for a marketing and sales firm and my dad was a lazy piece of shit. He married her for the money, stayed with her for the money, and used the marriage as his chance to never have to work a day in his life. He lied about what he was spending in the family funds, lied about how he was spending the days, and lied about a lot of other shit. When my mom found out the extent of everything, she picked us both up and dropped us here.”

Gladion just stood there looking at her as she told him. After she was done he looked away again, biting at his lower lip. He raised his head again, inhaling, and started, “Moon, I-“

“All right, all right, come on, let’s get moving!” their professor shouting interrupted him. “No dilly dallying, I want the groups back together!” Moon looked back to Gladion, but he was already pushing forward to stand with the others.

Moon had to explain for a third time when Sun asked what happened during lunch. By this point she just wanted to pretend it never happened.

When she and Gladion were partnered up, Moon looked at her feet quickly before looking at him. Once her steps were right, she spoke. “What were you going to say earlier?”

He blinked. He hadn’t even been looking at her. His gaze had seemed far off and he looked confused by the question. He blinked again. “Oh. Oh, that. It was nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“That just makes me worry more,” Moon said with a pout, “Every time anyone says it was nothing that means it was always something.”

Gladion rolled his eyes with a smirk. “You say that all the time.”

“Name one time I’ve said it was nothing,” Moon argued, still pouting.

“I could probably name at least eight,” he retorted, “You’re always saying that. Usually when someone thinks you look upset.”

Moon blushed a little bit. “Shut up,” she whispered. He laughed and she proceeded to stare at their feet the rest of the dance.


	19. A Suitable Replacement?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent all day working on stuff and now I'm tired, so here's this. I need a nap.

                Lillie looked even more restless the next morning. Now everyone was really worried. “Lils, what’s going on?” Moon asked her in a hushed voice, leaning from her own desk to put one hand on Lillie’s. “You look like you’ve been crying…”

                The pale girl smiled, but Moon could see how weak it was. “I’ll be all right,” she said, “Just need to spend some time talking to Hau and I’ll be good as new.”

                “Hau can’t fix everything,” Moon said. Lillie looked like she was about to argue, but Moon stopped her. “I know talking with him cheered me up, but you shouldn’t rely on someone else to always lighten your mood.”

                Lillie looked down. “He just makes it seem so easy,” she said in a whisper, “Any time I’m feeling down, Hau always knows just what to say to make it all feel better.”

                Moon rubbed her shoulder and lowered her head to look up at Lillie. “Lils, if you’re feeling that depressed you might want to see someone about getting medication.”

                Lillie shook her head. “Mother doesn’t believe in that.”

                “What? Mental illness or pills fixing things?” Moon asked, kind of shocked to hear Lillie say something like that. Their mother didn’t believe in that? Were Gladion and Lillie religious?

                “Pills,” was all Lillie said. Moon frowned at that.

                With a sigh, she gave in. “All right,” she said, “Then I guess since she won’t let you see a doctor, I think Hau’s the next best medicine.” Lillie smiled a little at her after she said that. “I’m sure he’ll make you feel better.”

                Lillie chuckled weakly. “He is the Sunshine Bomb, after all.”

                It was pretty obvious Gladion was tense too. During lunch Moon was sitting next to him again, and she could actually see his leg shaking while he bounced it. Lillie had brightened up after talking to Hau, at least. The two of them were chatting about Cutiefly at the moment, actually.

                Moon looked at his leg bouncing for a moment before she turned and reached into her bag. She pulled out the book, which she finally finished the night before, and pushed it toward him on the tabletop. He had been resting his head in his hand, reading his own book, so she pushed it right into his field of vision. His leg halted in its bouncing and he turned his head to look at her.

                “I finished the book,” she said, smiling a little. “Thanks for holding onto it for me over the weekend.” She was no Hau, but Moon really hoped she could cheer him up a little bit.

                He pushed a bookmark into his own book and looked at the one Moon had just given back to him. “Did you like the ending?”

                Moon nodded. “It was really cool,” she said, “I was kind of expecting a perfect happy ending, but the fact that her friend died felt right in the story.” Gladion smiled a little bit and she quickly added, “Or, well. Her friend’s clone. Whatever he was.”

                Acerola quickly piped up “Wasn’t it great!? I loved the ending!”

                Moon laughed a little. “You just liked the fact that somebody died.”

                “Yeah!” Acerola chimed, eyes sparkling, “It was great!”

                “To be honest, I really liked how her friend helped her so much,” Moon said, “He was supposed to be evil, but I think he really cared about what happened to her.”

                Acerola rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah, you would like that mushy crap wouldn’t you?”

                “You didn’t think it was cute?”

                “Well, no, it _was_ cute,” the purple haired girl said, “I just liked other stuff better.”

                Moon hummed, looking back to the blond boy next to her. He had slipped the Sneasel bookmark out of the book and was looking at it. He offered it to her, saying, “You can keep this if you want.”

                “You sure?”

                “Yeah,” he said, “I’ve got plenty of others.”

                Moon took the bookmark and paused for a moment. It felt like eyes were on her. She raised her head, turning to where she could feel the energy of a piercing stare.

                Mina was looking at her. Both of them, actually. Gladion had turned to look at her too. Mina was just squinting at the two of them.

                “Can we help you or something?” Gladion asked, sounding mildly annoyed. The rest of the table stopped what they were doing and looked at the three.

                Mina squinted harder. “Mina?” Moon said her name, and her gaze lightened a bit.

                “Let me paint you.”

                Gladion scoffed. “I already told you no,” he said, looking away from her.

                “Not you,” Mina snipped, “Both of you.” Now Gladion looked at her again, one eyebrow raised.

                “Why do you want to paint both of us?” Moon asked, genuinely confused.

                “And why is it both of us, but not me? Am I not part of the both?” Gladion asked, leaning onto the table and frowning.

                Mina looked at their faces. “There’s just something… You two next to each other… Mm… I’ve lost it already.” She was rubbing at her chin as she scrutinized them. “Go back to how you were. Smiling and talking.” When neither of them moved, she huffed and crossed her arms. “I saw something,” she said, “It was a perfect spark of inspiration, but you two moved and I’ve lost what it was.”

                “I’m not letting you paint me,” Gladion said.

                “Even with Moon?” Lillie spoke up, pouting, “Come on, Gladion, Mina’s very professional about it.”

                “No.”

                Moon looked at him for a moment before looking back at Mina. The older girl was still huffing and puffing unhappily, squinting at them again. “I guess you could try and get a picture?” Moon suggested to her. Gladion looked irritated that Moon even offered up the idea.

                “No, no,” Mina said, waving one hand weakly before putting it back to the crossed position in front of her chest, “It only happened for a moment. I won’t be able to capture that on my phone. I need to paint you two and see if that comes back.”

                Gladion returned his attention to his book with a scowl, and Moon looked at Mina. The older girl groaned, but let her shoulders slump in defeat. Moon tried to smile at her, but she noticed Gladion bouncing his leg again. She frowned at it, and looked at the blond boy. He was staring down at his book, but Moon noticed after about six minutes that he hadn’t turned the page. She knew he was a fast reader. Was he even actually reading the book?

                She was really surprised he hadn’t noticed her staring. Normally he noticed if people were looking at him. She huffed to herself. Looks like she was not a suitable replacement for Hau. She hadn’t cheered him up.

                Moon pulled out one of her notebooks. She scribbled a little bit on it, drawing a little Oddish in the corner with a big happy face. She slid he notebook a little closer to Gladion’s arm and she looked to see if he noticed it. Hard to tell with those stupid bangs hiding his face… So she drew something else. She drew a super fat Rowlet with a heart coming from a speech bubble next to it. Now she saw him turn his head a little. Her drawings weren’t very good, but she then tried to draw his Type:Null.

                When she showed him that one she heard a small laugh. “That’s not what Null looks like,” he said, turning his head a little to look at her. Moon could see that his eye had lost most of its discoloration, but still didn’t look pretty.

                “I was going from memory,” Moon said, smile wide and nervous on her face.

                He made a small humming noise before taking her pencil and sketching next to her drawing of Type:Null. He tapped the picture with the eraser after he finished. “That’s what Null looks like,” he said, sounding a tiny bit proud of himself.

                Moon peered down at the drawing and smiled. Gladion’s drawing of Type:Null was full of sharp edges and squared off corners. Nothing was rounded, but it was cute. It felt very… Gladion.

                She was about to say that she thought it was adorable, but was cut off. “What was that Kiawe? You’re _free_ tonight?! Well you don’t say!” Sun’s obnoxiously loud voice was pointedly shouting toward her. Moon raised an eyebrow at him. “Didn’t you want to invite Kiawe over to your place, Moon?”

                Moon felt her fingers go cold.

                “Fuck. You. Sun.”

                Kiawe turned his head to smile at her. “You really wanted to invite me? I thought you had just been joking that time at the Malasada shop!”

                She had been joking. She one hundred percent had been joking. But damn, Kiawe looked so happy that she had ‘asked’ that there was no way she could tell him the truth.

                She was sure she was a little pink in the face. “W-well, at the time I kinda was, but I really would like you to come over… My, uh, my mom would probably love you.”

                “Understatement,” Sun said. Moon shot him a glare and he stuck his tongue out at her.

                “That sounds great!” Kiawe said, bringing Moon’s attention back to him, “I’ll just need to let my family know, but I would love to meet your mom and Meowth!” The smile on his face was so bright and happy and warm. Even though Moon knew her mother was going to actually kill her with embarrassment, Moon didn’t feel like she cared in that moment. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling back at him, probably much too eagerly.

                Moon turned her head toward Sun. “Maybe this will be the test, Sun,” she said, grinning. Sun looked confused, but then again so did everyone else. “My mom seems to think she knows who I’ll be with, so maybe after this we’ll see if she still thinks it’s gonna be you.”

                Sun slammed his hands on the table, puffing up his cheeks, and Moon prepared herself for the yelling. It never came, though. The bell rang and they all had to leave for their next classes.

                Gladion was one of the first ones to leave the table, as per the usual, so Moon hurried after him. When he looked at her, she said, “Your drawing of Type:Null was really cute.” She saw him blush a little at that and he looked away.

                “Aww, can’t handle the word cute, Edgelord?” Sun teased. Moon didn’t know when he got behind them, but she was a little annoyed he decided to tease.

                “Fuck off,” Gladion spat, before walking away at a faster pace.

                Moon frowned before turning and looking at Sun, fire in her eyes. “Now look what you did,” she said, “I was finally starting to cheer him up!”

                Sun rolled his eyes. “Pff, there’s no cheering that fucking gloomy Gastly up.”

                “Yes, there is,” Moon argued, “I was making good progress.”

                “What’s he sad about anyway?” Sun asked as he put his arms behind his head.

                Moon sighed, “I don’t know…”

                “If you don’t know then why do you think what you were doing was working?”

                Moon huffed and walked away from him, following Sophocles, Lana, and Ilima to art. Sun blew a raspberry after her, but she ignored it. She was sure she had finally made progress. She had tried approaching it like Ilima said. Like a scared wild Pokemon. She had done little things to try and get him to pay attention and then she had tried to show him he could trust her once she had it. It had started to work. Damn that Sun!

               


	20. Exactly As Expected???

                “Mom?” Moon called out as she opened the door to their house, “I brought another friend over!”

                Her mother stepped around the corner from her own bedroom, saying cheerily, “Oh, that’s great, sweetie! Who is it this-“ her mother stopped mid sentence when she finally opened her eyes and saw the tall, handsome, and very shirtless boy standing next to her daughter. “Oh my stars.”

                Before Moon could even tell her mom his name, she had jumped forward and cupped Kiawe’s face in her hands. “Oh my stars what a handsome young man you are! My goodness, just look at you!” She let go of his face to gesture at his whole body. Moon cringed and Kiawe laughed and rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin on his face.

                “My goodness, such strong arms!” her mother said, taking the arm Kiawe had been using to rub his neck and looking at it. “My goodness, surely you can’t be in the same grade as my daughter!”

                Moon’s face was completely scarlet. Even her ears were red. Whatever she expected her mother to do, it wasn’t this.

                “Actually, I’m a grade ahead of her,” Kiawe answered, still smiling happily, “My name’s Kiawe. It’s nice to meet you.”

                Her mother’s already bright eyes shone like diamonds. “So you’re the boy who invited her to that party! How did your sister like her gifts?!”

                Moon was trying meekly to move the three of them away from the front door, but she wasn’t having much luck. So before Kiawe could answer, she offered, “Mom, why don’t we let Kiawe come in and sit down before you start interrogating him!?”

                “Wonderful idea, sweetie!” Her mother quickly walked the two of them over to the couch, practically pushed them to sit next to each other, and then sat in the chair kiddy-corner to the couch. Moon was trying to hide her face. She heard Kiawe hum happily and felt him pat her on the shoulder, but that only made her more determined to hide herself.

                “So!” Her mother chimed, “Your sister! How old is she?”

                Kiawe turned his smile to her. “She just turned seven,” he said. Moon’s mom cooed about how little she was, and he said, “She really likes the blanket Moon gave her. She’s taken to wearing it around like a cape, actually.”

                Moon’s mom smiled hearing that, commenting on how cute it sounded. Her next comment, though, had Moon burying her head in her shoulders.

                “You certainly must take after your father with a handsome face like that.”

                “MOM!” Moon shrieked, eyes wide, sure she was sweating, before ducking into her shirt to hide.

                Kiawe only chuckled. “Actually, people tell me I look more like my grandfather than anyone else in the family.”

                “Ohh, I’m sure he must have been a very handsome man.”

                “I want to die,” Moon groaned. Kiawe offered her another sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

                Her mother had gotten up at the sound of the phone ringing, and Kiawe said, “I know how you feel. My mom does this almost every time I bring any friends over that aren’t Mallow, Lana, or Sophocles.”

                Moon was still very much red in the face, but she peeked up at him and asked in a quiet, curious little squeak, “Not Ilima?”

                Kiawe smiled. “He’s not over often enough for mom to be really numb to his presence,” he said, “It’s gotten better as she’s gotten to know him, though.”

                “I’m sorry my mom’s so bad,” Moon whispered, looking away from him again.

                Kiawe only laughed. “Don’t worry about it. I’m pretty sure it’s just a mom thing.”

                “You’re too nice for your own good,” Moon huffed, “This is only going to make her worse.”

                Moon’s mother came back out into the room and smiled, seeing them talking. “Sorry about that,” she announced herself, making her daughter jump, “So, Kiawe, Moon tells me you’re a fire dancer!”

                Kiawe smiled at Moon before looking back at her mom. “Did she?” Moon shrank into herself again. “Well, I’m studying to become a professional one,” he said, “I actually had been saving up money for years so I could go study abroad last year.”

                Moon’s mother closed her eyes and hummed as she smiled. “My, my! How responsible!”

                “If I hadn’t gone and studied I actually would probably have graduated by now,” Kiawe admitted, “I just finally had the opportunity so I took it.”

                “I’m glad for you! Pursuing one’s dreams is always something to be admired!” Moon’s mother turned her head toward her daughter after saying that. “Moon, aren’t you going to show your friend your room?”

                Moon went red again. “Mom, you’re _really_ not supposed to want boys in my room!”

                Her mom stood up, hands on her hips and a smile on her face. “Kiawe seems very trustworthy. I don’t mind at all. I’m sure you’d both like some time to yourselves without some old lady hanging over your shoulder.”

                “You’re not old!” Kiawe quickly argued.

                Moon’s mom put a hand to her cheek. “Such a sweet boy! You flatter me!” She looked at her thoroughly embarrassed daughter. “Moon, you have such wonderful friends! They’re all so kind!”

                Moon was more than happy to drag Kiawe to her room after that. Not surprising, Meowth was in there sleeping soundly on her bed. Kiawe made an excited noise when he saw her, and he quickly went over to pet her.

                Meowth woke up as soon as he started petting her. She opened one of her eyes, yawned, and turned over so he could scratch at her chin.

                “Well, surprise surprise, Meowth already likes you,” Moon huffed, watching as the little cat purred happily. “You just have a way with Pokemon, don’t you, Kiawe?”

                Kiawe turned his head back to look over his shoulder at her. He shrugged with a little smile. “It comes with being raised with Pokemon on a ranch.”

                Moon walked over toward where he knelt beside Meowth, hands on her hips. She was chewing her lip as she thought to herself. Should she ask him if he had noticed Gladion’s black eye? Well, no, obviously he hadn’t noticed it. That was dumb. She knew what she wanted to ask him, but she knew she couldn’t. She just wanted someone to give her different advice from what Ilima already gave her.

                She shook her head a little. She shouldn’t be thinking of Gladion right now. She was spending time with Kiawe. He was her guest, she was being rude.

                To her surprise, Kiawe brought up the blond. “So, Gladion seemed upset today, didn’t he?”

                Moon blinked at him a couple of times before it registered that he had said it and not her. She sat on her bed next to Meowth. “Yeah, actually,” she said, “Lillie seemed really upset this morning too.”

                Kiawe looked up at her. “She was?”

                “Yeah,” Moon said, “Hau was able to cheer her up, though.” She saw Kiawe smile. “What?”

                He stood up from petting Meowth. “Is that why you were being so friendly during lunch?” he had his hands on his hips, smiling down at her now.

                “Uh, yeah, actually,” Moon said, a little confused, “Why?”

                Kiawe shrugged, still smiling. “No reason, just wondered.”

                Moon narrowed her eyes at him. “Wondered what?”

                He looked a little startled by her harsh tone for a moment before he laughed. “Okay, okay, sheesh! I just thought you were trying to get him to agree to Mina’s painting! No need to get so suspicious!”

                “Oh,” Moon blinked a couple times. She had honestly forgotten all about Mina asking them to let her paint them.

                “Honestly, you trying to cheer him up makes more sense,” Kiawe said, looking at some of the pictures hanging on her walls, “You’re a good friend, Moon.” He turned to smile at her again as he said that, and Moon grabbed at her heart, sure her cheeks were pink. Stop being so cute! Fuck!

                Moon’s mom called them both to eat, and their conversation ended there. Her mom continued interrogating Kiawe and embarrassing her daughter the entire time he was at their house. He stayed pretty late. The sun was beginning to set when he finally climbed onto his Charizard.

                Moon waved goodbye to him, watching as he took off. “Take care, Kiawe!” she called, “See ya later!” He waved his goodbyes as well, and before Moon even had a chance to put her am down, her mother was squeezing her into a hug.

                “Oh, my goodness, sweetie! You’re such a lucky girl!”

                “M-mom!?” Moon was being lifted in the air by the hug. She squeaked in surprise as her mother continued the Teddiursa hug.

                “I had no idea! What a wonderful boyfriend!”

                Moon’s face went redder than it ever had in her life. “For Celebi’s sake, Mom! We’re not dating!”

                Her mother put her down with a frown. “You’re not?”

                “N-no!” Moon stammered, but stomped her foot down and shouted, “We’re just friends! I’ve told you!”

                Now her mother was pouting. “But he’s so handsome. And you seemed like you really liked him.”

                “I-“ Moon could hardly believe the conversation they were having, “I do like him, mom! He’s a great guy! But we’re just. Friends.”

                Her mother sighed, putting her hands on her hips. “Well then, now you’ve got four wonderful boys to choose from.”

                “Again,” Moon snapped, “I have like eight other friends, mom. And a few of them are also boys.”

                “Well then you’ve really got a tough decision to make!” Moon rushed away into the house after her mother said that.

                Moon tried not to think about the fact that he mother had thought she and Kiawe were dating. She tried so hard. But every time she did, she knew she was blushing. She was trying to watch TV. It was becoming a big struggle.

                She couldn’t help but laugh, though. So much for her mother thinking she and Sun were destined to be married. Kiawe had squished that idea faster than she had thought.

                “I’m going to bed sweetie, you staying up?”

                Moon looked up at her mother. “Yeah, I wanna try and see how this show ends,” she said.

                “All right, but don’t stay up too late. You still have school in the morning.”

                Moon ended up staying up for another two hours. She had finished the one episode, but then the next one was on after that, and then another, and another. She was kind of getting invested in this.

                Her phone went off, and she picked it up, opening the message without looking at first. Once it went to commercial she looked down at her phone. It was from Gladion. Moon was startled. He had never texted her before.

                “Are you up?”

                Moon stared at the text. “Yeah, I am, what’s up?”

                His reply was fast. “That’s all I needed to know.”

                Now she was staring harder at her phone, really confused. What? What did…?

                There was a knock on the front door. Moon looked at the clock. Almost one in the morning. If Gladion was visiting her, this was a horrible time to pick.

                She got up and peeked out the front window. She could see Gladion standing on the front porch, but her eyes widened when she saw he wasn’t alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ


	21. Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have nothing important to say here, but did you all see Ash get vored by sand in the new Pokémon Sun and Moon anime episode? Nightmares.

                Moon inhaled sharply, painfully actually, and rushed to throw the front door open.

                “Lillie! Gladion!”

                The instant the blonde girl set her eyes on Moon, she threw herself forward, sobbing into her shoulder.

                Moon’s eyes went wide, gaping down at the pale girl. Her eyes slowly rose to Gladion’s, and she carefully put her arms around Lillie.

                “What’s going on?” Moon asked, voice quiet and shaking. Why were they both there at this time of night? Why was Lillie crying? What was happening?

                Gladion grimaced, glancing over his shoulder once quickly, before looking back at her. “Can we go inside and talk?”

                Moon quickly stepped out of the way, walking inside, still holding Lillie close to her. Gladion followed her inside, closing the door behind him. Moon walked Lillie over to the couch, helping the still crying girl sit down. She hadn’t stopped sobbing. Moon was scared.

                She looked back up when Gladion walked over and stood in front of the couch.

                “What the hell is going on?” Moon asked, upset that her voice wasn’t as strong as she wanted it to be.

                Lillie pushed harder into Moon’s shoulder, crying even more, and Gladion visibly winced. “We, um,” he shifted his weight to his other leg, “We need a place to crash for a while.”

                Moon looked from him to the top of Lillie’s head. She gave the girl a comforting squeeze before looking up at her brother again. “Will you tell me?”

                “Not now,” Gladion answered. Moon could see his left hand shaking. What the hell happened with them?

                “You can both stay in my room for tonight,” Moon said, prying Lillie away from her now soaked shirt. Lillie was sniffling and wiping at her eyes.

                “We need to stay longer than one night,” the boy next to them said.

                Moon looked up at him and nodded. “Once I know what’s going on, I’m sure I can get my mom to let you both stay here as long as you need to…” She looked at Lillie and tried to smile reassuringly. “Okay?”

                Lillie nodded, tears still rolling down her face. Moon was happy Gladion came over and helped pull her to her feet. He was using his right hand, the left still visibly shaking. Moon stood after Lillie was off her, and led them to her bedroom. She turned off the lights in the main room and quickly returned to the pale siblings. Lillie now had her head against Gladion’s shoulder.

                Moon swallowed, feeling like her throat was trying to close itself up. “Lillie, why don’t you sleep in my bed?” Lillie’s head jolted up and Moon saw she was about to protest, but Moon cut across her, holding up a hand, “I still don’t know what happened, but I think you need it a lot more than I do.”

                Lillie chewed her lip, looking at her brother. He nodded without a word, and Lillie’s tiny voice whispered out a scratchy, “Okay…”

                Moon got bedrolls and blankets out for herself and for Gladion, thankful at least that Lillie had crawled into the bed and laid down. Meowth had wandered into her room when the siblings arrived, and she quickly hopped up and curled up beside the pale girl. Lillie weakly curled an arm around the tiny cat and sniffled some more.

                Gladion stopped Moon as she prepared an area for them to sleep. Moon looked at him, waiting to see what he would say. His eyes flicked over to where Lillie was, and Moon turned to look as well. She was already asleep. Moon felt a little bit relieved to see that she was. All the crying probably tired her out.

                “We still need to talk,” Gladion said, voice quiet so as not to wake her. Moon nodded without a word and led him out to the little side porch their house had. It was a quiet night and it was so early in the morning nobody would be outside to hear whatever they had to say.

                Moon looked at him after closing the door behind herself. She didn’t want to risk waking Lillie up. The poor girl obviously needed the sleep.

                He exhaled slowly, leaning against the railing on the little porch and rubbed at his left wrist absently. “I’m sorry,” was the first thing he said.

                “Don’t be,” Moon said quickly, putting her hand over top the one he was using to rub at his wrist.

                “Not about this,” he mumbled, “About what I said to you before… Your life isn’t perfect. You have problems too…” Moon’s mouth made a small O when she understood what he was referring to. “I shouldn’t be dropping ours on you like this, but…”

                He hesitated, looking at his shaking hand. Moon tried to comfort him by squeezing his right hand gently. He looked at her after she did and she smiled a little at him, hoping he would go on.

                “It’s our mother,” he said after just looking at her for a long while. Moon was confused, but stayed quiet. He looked away again and sighed. “She hurt Lillie tonight.” Now Moon sucked in a quick gasp, turning her head to look at her bedroom window.

                Moon looked back to him. “What did she do? Is she going to be okay? Are you-“ Moon stopped herself as the situation dawned on her. He didn’t turn his head, but she saw his eyes looking at her. “You ran away…”

                He sighed again, closing his eyes. “We had to…” he whispered, “I couldn’t let her hurt Lillie again…” Moon wanted to tell him he was being a good brother, but she waited. “She’s never hit her before… Usually it’s just me.”

                She swallowed. “The black eye…”

                He had an empty smile on his face after she said that. “Yeah.”

                “Gladion, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know,” Moon apologized quickly, ready to say more, but he stopped her.

                “It’s okay. I got used to it after a while… As long as she wasn’t hurting Lillie, I didn’t care.” His gaze had drifted out to stare at the water nearby. “She’s been bad ever since our dad disappeared,” Gladion mumbled, “But tonight was the worst I’ve ever seen her. Something’s changed. She’s never attacked Lillie before…”

                Moon gave his hand another firm squeeze and he looked at her again. “Why did you two come to me?”

                “You’re new here,” Gladion answered, “Our mother doesn’t know you or where you live.” Moon nodded her head slowly. That made a lot of sense. “And…” Gladion huffed before he said the last bit. “I couldn’t think of anyone else to ask for help…”


	22. Basically, Don't Tell Hau

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> applied for a couple jobs today. one is storyboarding, the other is character design- hoping I at least hear something back. fingers crossed. both projects would be fantastic to work on.

                Moon had set herself an alarm to wake up before her mother left for work. It was set on her phone, laying beside her head on the floor. She groaned when it went off, and she turned over to reach for it. Her hand hit Gladion’s, because he was also reaching for it to shut it off. The contact scared Moon half to death, she sat straight up with a small yelp of surprise.

                The blond boy opened one eye, looked at her, and groaned. When Moon saw him and Lillie, her mind finally caught up and she sighed with relief. “Sorry,” she whispered, “Go back to sleep.” He turned over after she stood up.

                Moon shut her bedroom door behind her as quietly as possible. Her mother was at the counter having some coffee. She looked up, really surprised that her daughter was awake.

                “Moon, you’re up early,” she said.

                The smaller girl laughed nervously, looking back at her bedroom door. “Uh,” Moon rubbed her arm and walked toward her mother. “So, um… Mom…?”

                Her mother set her coffee down immediately, face crinkling with a worried frown. “What is it?” she asked, “What’s happened?”

                “Uh,” Moon swallowed and tried not to look her mom in the eye, “So um… Two of my friends came over last night after you went to bed…”

                Her mother’s face softened. “Oh, is that all? Sweetie, I’m not angry with you. You can have friends over whenever you like.”

                “Well, it’s just,” Moon glanced up at her mom before inhaling deeply. “They ran away from home.” Now her mother looked shocked. Moon looked up at her again and flinched at the look on her face. “They need a place to stay for a while…”

                Moon looked up again when her mother placed a hand on her shoulder. “What happened?” she asked, voice laced with concern. She didn’t even know Lillie and Gladion, but her mother was worried all the same.

                “Their mother was abusing them,” Moon answered in a whisper. Her mother gasped, putting her hand against her mouth. “They didn’t know who else to turn to. Their mother knows everyone else and Gladion said she would come looking for them…”

                Her mother quickly pulled her into a hug. “They can stay as long as they need,” she said, “But I hope you know I’m reporting their mother to the police.”

                Moon pushed her back with a shake of her head. “I think Gladion should do that,” she argued quietly, “If their mom finds out who you are she’ll know where to find them.”

                “Then you make sure they report this,” her mom said, voice soft but stern, “I can’t stand to think this woman might get away with this.” Moon nodded, smiling a little bit. Her mother kissed her forehead. “I have to go to work, but I promise I’ll help with all this once I’m home.”

                “Okay… Bye mom…”

                When Moon turned around, she almost wasn’t surprised that Gladion was leaning against her bedroom door, watching. Almost. She still flinched a little bit when she saw him, but she put her hand to her heart and sighed when she saw it was only him.

                “I told you to go back to bed,” Moon said.

                “Couldn’t,” he mumbled, looking at the floor. Moon huffed, putting her hands on her hips and cocking one to one side. She had a feeling he didn’t really try.

                She looked over at the coffee pot, which was probably still fairly fresh, and looked back at him. “Do you drink coffee?” she offered, motioning her head toward the little kitchen area. He shrugged and walked over that way. Moon went and got him a mug, passing it to him before getting one for herself. She was tired, too, after all. She hadn’t really slept very well. What, with the fact that her friends were taking refuge in her house because their mother was after them. Makes for a pretty restless night’s sleep.

                As they stood together, each leaning against a different counter respectively, Moon asked, “So I’m guessing you heard what my mom said?” He nodded, not talking yet since he was in the middle of drinking. “So, are you planning on reporting this, then?”

                He grimaced as he swallowed. “We don’t have evidence…”

                Moon pouted at him and pointed directly at his face. He raised the eyebrow she could see, so she emphasized her point by pushing his bangs out of his face and making a face at him.

                He looked away, finding a spot on the other counter to stare at. “Oh… Right… That…”

                “It’s almost healed, but it’s still evidence,” Moon said, still holding her hand against his face to keep his bangs out of the way of the bruising, “I can take a picture of it and you can give that to the police… Do you have any other bruises I should know about?”

                With a bit of a nervous cringe, Gladion moved away from her and lifted the bottom of his shirt a bit, revealing several long, ugly, swollen bruises going from his side around to across his back. Moon hissed when she saw them. They looked pretty recent. She didn’t really want to ask, but Moon looked at his face and whispered, “What about Lillie?”

                Gladion dropped the hem of his shirt and refused to look at her. He just stood there looking at the ground for a moment before finally nodding silently.

                Moon stood there worrying for a while. They both continued to stand there and not speak for what felt like ages.

                “I think Lillie and I should skip school today,” Gladion said after a long moment of quiet. “If mother is looking for us, that’s the first place she’ll check.”

                Moon nodded. “Okay… But don’t you think the others will-“

                She didn’t get to finish her question, Gladion cut across her. “You can’t tell any of them. You have to act like you don’t know either.”

                “But,” Moon flexed her fingers, “Won’t they be worried if you’re gone?”

                “They’ll only be worried about Lillie,” Gladion said. Moon stepped closer to him, hand almost reaching out to touch him, but he stopped her with a hard glare. “It’s not unusual for me to skip.” He waited for Moon to drop her hand. “It is for her, though… For Lillie’s sake, please don’t let the others know what’s going on.”

                “But they’ll want to help you,” Moon argued, hand coming back up to hold onto his arm, “They care about you guys.”

                The blond boy huffed, shoulders slumping. “They care about her…”

                Moon bit her lip at the tone of his voice. He sounded so defeated. So sure… “That’s not true.” Her voice was quiet and she squeezed his arm gently as she said it. “I care about you.”

                After no reaction whatsoever, Moon tentatively raised her head to look at him. He looked away from her as soon as she did. Moon smiled a little bit. His cheeks were bright pink. She was sure if Sun were there right now he would be teasing him about not being able to take a compliment. Or something like that.

                Looking at the time on her phone, Moon sighed and moved over toward the front door where her backpack sat on the ground. She really didn't want to go. She felt so guilty knowing she had to go to school and pretend like nothing was wrong. She started gathering up her stuff and tugging on her shoes. She pulled on a red cap and turned to look at Gladion. He was still just standing over by the counters, but now he was looking at her.

                “There’s plenty of food in the fridge and the cupboards,” she told him, “You and Lillie can have whatever you want. I’m sure my mom won’t mind.” He nodded without a word and picked up his mug again. “My camera’s in my bedroom on my desk. If you don’t take pictures of the bruises before I come back I’m going to make you.” He waved his hand at her as he sipped the coffee. Squaring her shoulders with one final nod, Moon walked out the front door. She was prepared for what would probably be the toughest day of school in her life.


	23. Lillie's Absence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MOON AND GLADION ARE INTERACTING IN THE NEW POKESPE AND MOON THOUGHT GLADION WANTED TO ASK HER OUT I AM LIVING MY GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
> MY DREAM CAME TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!  
> THEY'RE FINALLY INTERACTING I'M SO HAPPY!!!!  
> MY BABIES  
> IT'S CANON INTERACTION I'M SO HAPPY  
> Also, though, side note from the Pokespe-- Moon likes Poison types Pokémon and has an Alolan Grimer and a Mareanie. Very cool. Everyone looked horrified when she was fawning over her Poison type Pokémon. Even Gladion looked shocked.

Moon was able to keep up a fairly strong façade while talking to Sun, but as soon as she saw Hau she felt her strength crumbling. Sure, Lana and Sun had both noticed Lillie’s absence and wondered where she was, but Hau. Oh, Hau. At first he had seemed to think she was just late to Home Ec. But when half the period had gone by and she didn’t show, Moon saw the worry spreading across his face.

“Have you guys heard from Lillie today?” he asked Mallow and Moon, leaning far too much into their personal space.

Mallow pouted. “No, I haven’t,” she replied, “Moon?”

Moon shook her head, hoping, no, really praying, that she was convincing. Hau inhaled sharp and fast, one hand flying up in front of his mouth.

“Do you think she’s sick?” Mallow asked.

Hau was already pulling out his phone, sweat starting to form on his forehead. “Usually she tells me when she’s sick!” he whined, frantically tapping his thumbs against his phone. Moon swallowed and watched as his fidgeted, bit his lip, and began to sweat.

The tension in the air was thick as they waited to see if Lillie would reply. Moon was hoping as hard as she could that Gladion had told her to lie. If Lillie slipped up, then they were done for.

Hau exhaled loudly all at once, every inch of his body seeming to relax.

“She’s okay?” Mallow asked, smiling a little bit at him.

The green haired boy nodded, a big smile on his face. “She was sleeping,” he said, “She says she’s trying to sleep it off.”

Mallow gave Hau a big pat on the back, thankfully hiding the sound of the relieved sigh Moon let out. “See!? You had nothing to worry about!” Hau laughed and rubbed his neck with a grin up at her.

Moon happily let Hau explain to everyone who asked that Lillie was just sick and that’s why she wasn’t in today. It was less for her to try and do. She was already worrying over the possibility of their mother finding them. She was scared for her friends.

“You okay, Moon?” Sophocles asked her during math. He always seemed to notice when she was mulling over depressing things.

“Hm?” she quickly tried to play it off. “Oh, yeah, yeah. Was I making a face again?”

“Yeah,” the redhead replied, “You looked scared.”

Moon rolled her shoulders. “Sorry. Guess I just make faces a lot when I think.”

Moon sat next to Kiawe in lunch and thankfully she was able to distract herself from the sibling issues because of it. Sun asked her mockingly how their dinner date had gone, and Moon was able to smirk back at him and say, “My mom thought Kiawe was already my boyfriend. You’ve been replaced!”

Sun slapped his hands onto the table. “No fucking way! You’re lying!”

“Did she really?” Kiawe asked, smiling shyly, “I just thought she was being a mom.”

Moon nodded at him. “As soon as you left the house she started going on and on about how she had no idea I had such a wonderful boyfriend.”

Sun whined. “But your mom really seemed to like me!”

“She likes all of you,” Moon said, “But she actually thought Kiawe and I were dating. So, it looks like he wins.”

“Did you explain to her that you’re not actually dating?” Lana asked.

“Obviously.”

“Gladion’s not here,” Ilima said, completely changing the subject and making Moon’s stomach turn.

“I’m tellin ya,” Sun said, wagging a finger and biting into a sandwich, “Whatever happens to one happens to the other.”

“So you think they’re both sick?” Lana asked. Sun nodded.

Hau smiled. “I can ask Lillie!” Moon really really wished he wouldn’t.

After him poking at his phone for a bit, he pouted. “Lillie says he’s supposed to be here…”

“Guess the edgy fuck is skipping again,” Sun grumbled. Acerola said she wished she could have skipped today. She had a test after lunch apparently.

Moon was thankful the subject got dropped pretty fast. She was still going to mention this to Gladion. It would be a very nice “in your face” moment. They noticed he was gone. They did care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BLESS THE POKESPE  
> BLESS THE DAY  
> I'M SO HAPPY


	24. A Nice Person

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meh, I felt like updating twice

Moon had a really hard time enjoying the dancing during PE that day. Sure, she got to be near Kiawe, but she was just so worried about her two friends at her house. She hadn’t seen anyone in the school that looked like the two of them all day. Was their mother not actually looking for them? For some reason that made her angrier than it would have if she had shown up looking to yell at them. It made her feel like their mother didn’t even care.

Even her own mother cared about Lillie and Gladion, and she hadn’t even gotten to meet them yet! It made Moon’s blood boil.

“You feelin’ okay?” Ilima asked her as they danced, “You look ready to use All Out Pummeling or something.”

Moon tried to smile, even though she was still gritting her teeth together. “I’m all right.”

“Is Gladion actually skipping?”

“How would I know?” Moon looked over at Hau and Kiawe as she answered, hoping that watching the big grin on the smaller boy’s face would help soften her own emotions.

Ilima shrugged. “I just wondered if maybe you knew and that was why you were upset.”

“Every time I get upset isn’t always because of Gladion, Ilima,” Moon rolled her eyes at him, smirking a little bit.

“I know,” Ilima smiled back, “Sometimes you get mad because of Sun.”

Speaking of Sun, he was stuck dancing with the random girl that got to join their group in Gladion’s absence. Moon really didn’t want to dance with her. She seemed nice and all, but she really didn’t want to be reminded that Gladion wasn’t there. Her name was Zula or something like that. Moon didn’t really listen.

She practically sprinted out of the school once her day was done. She wanted to be back with the siblings. She had been worrying all day. She needed to get back and check on them.

Sun had tried stalling her at her locker, but she had said she was in a rush, and hurried away. She ignored him shouting ‘what rush’ after her. How had Lillie and Gladion handled today? Were they okay? Had Hau pestered Lillie at all during his other classes? Had she spilled the beans?

When she got back to the house, she actually slid across the grass in the front yard and fell on her back with a loud thud and a yelp. She sat up, rubbing at her back with a huff.

Not long after she fell the front door opened. The two blond siblings were in the doorway, but as soon as Lillie saw Moon on the ground with a pained grimace on her face, she rushed out to hug her and ask if she was all right. She was crying before she even reached Moon.

“I’m fine, Lillie, really,” Moon said, trying to wriggle free of her incredibly wet, teary hug, “Just took the turn a little too fast is all.”

Lillie pulled her head back, but didn’t release Moon’s shoulders. She was sobbing brokenly, but managed to sputter out a coherent sentence or two. “Gladion told me your mother is letting us stay! Thank you so, so much! I don’t know where we’d be without you! Thank you so much, Moon! I’ll never be able to repay your kindness!” after she finished her rambling, Lillie pushed her face back into Moon’s shoulder and continued to cry.

Gladion walked over to the two of them and sighed loud enough that Moon heard it over the sound of Lillie’s sniffles and whimpers. Moon looked up at him, and so did Lillie after wiping at her eyes a few times.

“Lillie, you just calmed down,” he said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

His sister sniffled. “I’m just so happy!” she wailed openly, hugging Moon tighter, “I’m so happy we have such a great friend!”

Gladion held out a hand and waited for Lillie to take it so he could help her up. He offered to help Moon up as well, but Moon was already standing on her own once she was freed from Lillie’s grip.

“Lillie used up most of your tissues,” Gladion said to her as Moon brushed grass off her legs and butt. Lillie whimpered out a quiet ‘sorry’, but Moon only smiled and kept brushing herself off.

The three of them went inside. But not before Moon snatched Meowth up of the front porch. They had left the front door open and she had wandered out to see what all the fuss was. Lillie apologized for that too but Moon told her it was normal for Meowth to try and go out.

“She likes to lay on the porch,” Moon said, closing the front door behind her and sliding her backpack off, “I think she likes to feel the warm breeze.”

Moon went and set Meowth onto her own personal pillow by the TV and then went back to take off her shoes. Lillie had walked over to the couch and picked up the box of tissues as she sat down.

“Did you see anyone at school looking for us?” Gladion asked as Moon tugged off her sneakers.

Moon shook her head. “I didn’t see anybody that looked like you guys.”

“What about a woman with purple hair and big glasses?”

She paused. “I… Wasn’t really looking for anyone like that… Sorry, Gladion, I didn’t know,” she quickly apologized, feeling bad for not keeping a better eye out.

Gladion’s shoulders dropped, but he simply sighed, “It’s fine. I never told you, so it’s not really your fault.”

“You think mother would send Wicke?” Lillie asked him from the couch.

“You really think she wouldn’t? When’s the last time you saw her leave the damn building?” Gladion growled in reply, shoving his hands into the pockets of his hoodie.

Lillie looked down at the little box on her lap. “Good point,” she muttered.

“Who’s Wicke?” Moon asked, walking over to rest her forearms on the top of the couch beside Lillie’s head.

“Our caretaker,” Gladion answered. Lillie lifted her head to say something, but Gladion didn’t let her, “That’s basically what she became, Lillie. When’s the last time mother did anything with us as a family?”

Lillie turned her head to look up at Moon. “She was truly a very kind woman, but mother made her do everything.”

Moon pouted at her friend “That sounds awful,” she said, “Your mother should be spending time with you two, not dumping you on someone else.”

“Mother spent more time with Gladion,” Lillie said, turning to look at him, “But I never realized why until last night.”

So that meant Lillie knew about the black eye. And probably about other things as well. She probably knew more than Moon did. Moon saw his shoulders tighten around his neck and she worried her lower lip with her teeth.

“The others were worried about where you two were,” Moon said after watching Gladion for a moment.

“Yeah,” Gladion huffed, “Hau sent Lillie into a fucking panic this morning. She had to ask me what to tell him.”

Lillie whined, patting her fists down on her thighs a couple of times. “I feel so bad for lying to him!”

Moon laughed at her antics. “I kinda figured something like that,” she said, looking back up at Gladion and smiling, “You seem like the better liar. No offense.”

He only shrugged. But Lillie spoke. “It shouldn’t be a compliment,” she said, tone harsh, “You’ve been lying to me for ages about all this!”

“I didn’t want you getting hurt.”

“You still should have told me!” Lillie snapped right back, “If I had at least known we could have saved so much trouble! Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been? How many times I was afraid something was really wrong with you but you just wouldn’t tell me?! I thought you were still upset about dad!” Gladion looked at her then, eyes shining with sadness. “I thought you were going to kill yourself, Gladion…” Lillie finally whimpered out. Moon heard Gladion’s sharp intake of breath and saw the worry in his gaze. “I was so afraid I was going to lose you… Then I would have been all alone. I would never have been able to handle mother by myself.”

                They were silent for a long moment after that. Only the sound of Lillie's quiet sniffles breaking the air every now and then. Gladion just stood there staring at her with wide eyes for what felt like forever.

                Finally he walked over and knelt down, taking hold of one of her hands. For a while he didn’t say a word, just looked up at his sister as she cried again. When he finally did speak, his voice was soft.

“I’m sorry, Lillie. All I wanted was to keep her from hurting you. I didn’t even think about how what I was doing was hurting you instead.”

“Just please don’t keep so many secrets from me,” Lillie sobbed, “Please, promise me you won’t leave me out of this anymore!”

He nodded once, closing his eyes. “I promise.”

Moon smiled a little as she watched them. She felt a little bit out of place being there to see all this, but she was glad it was happening. They needed to talk to each other.

Gladion looked up at her at one point after that. Moon tried not to look awkward as she offered him a sympathetic smile. “We, uh... We took pictures while you were gone,” he said, reaching into his pocket to pull out her camera.

Moon reached down to take it. “I’m glad,” she said.

“Thank you again for this,” he said, pushing himself to his feet, “I know I’m not as openly grateful as Lillie, but I really do appreciate this.”

“I’d never leave the two of you out on your own. None of this is any trouble whatsoever. If you ever need help, you can always come to me,” Moon told him, voice soft, but steady. “I’m sure my mother will feel exactly the same way. I don’t want to see you two hurt.”

Lillie sniffled, but beamed up at her. “You see, Moon?” she said, voice much lighter than just a few moments ago, “You are a nice person!”

Moon hummed out a small laugh. “Guess you’re right,” she said, “Can’t really deny it anymore, can I?”


	25. An Explanation

Moon was sitting with her two friends on the floor in the main living room. Lillie would sniffle occasionally or need to blow her nose, so Moon made sure to bring a couple more boxes of tissues out to where they were. She had been trying to explain her day to them. Gladion didn’t look quite as wrecked as Lillie did, but Moon could see the way his left hand shook.

“I’m glad nothing too drastic happened, at least,” Lillie said after Moon finished explaining. “Though it does sound like Ilima was suspicious.”

Moon tried to shrug nonchalantly, but she knew she failed when she saw Gladion’s eyes narrow at her. “I didn’t tell anybody,” she said, “Ilima’s just… helped me before…” The blond boy still didn’t look convinced. “Both times we fought he gave me advice on what not to do, since I didn’t really know you that well.”

“Oh,” Gladion’s face softened.

“You two fought more than once?” Lillie asked, looking between them, “Why didn’t either or you tell me?”

“It was stupid,” Moon said, “Besides, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“I think it matters,” Lillie muttered, puffing up her cheeks and crossing her arms.

“Well it’s over now, so let’s just move on,” Moon said, rubbing at her knees. The backs of her legs had green smears all over them and she could just barely see them on her thighs with how she was sitting. She had been so panicked trying to get home quickly. She wondered if any of her neighbors had seen her fall.

Moon looked up at the siblings after getting lost in her thoughts. “Were you two okay here during the day? I wish I could have stayed here with you…”

Gladion shrugged. “We were all right,” he said.

“I felt so guilty about eating your food!” Lillie whined, leaning forward, “I feel guilty about all of this!”

Moon waved her hand. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Don’t feel guilty.”

“I just don’t want to take advantage of your hospitality.”

“You’re not,” Moon told her, “You both needed a place to stay, so I’m giving you a place to stay. Simple as that.”

All at once the sound of the front door knob turning met their ears. All three of them moved to look as it opened. Moon’s mother stepped inside, peeking around the door somewhat shyly.

“Sweetie?”

“Hi mom,” Moon greeted, though not as cheerfully as she would have any other time.

Her mother quickly dropped her bags and hurried into the house to where the three of them were. Moon stood up as she came over. Gladion and Lillie each stood after she did.

“So, um, mom, this is Lillie,” Moon motioned to the blonde girl, “And her brother, Gladion.” She motioned to him. Both siblings offered either small waves or nervous greetings.

Her mother looked at the two of them with a slightly worried furrow to her brow. “Are you two the ones who are staying to avoid your mother?” she asked. Lillie looked down, but turned her head more toward Gladion. Moon’s mother looked at him, following the motion Lillie set. He nodded silently and pushed his bangs aside to show his mostly green and yellow black eye. It was a silent confirmation that yes, Moon hadn’t made it up. Her mother inhaled deeply, quickly, as she looked at the bruising.

“We’d like to ask you formally if you would allow us to stay here until we can sort all of this out,” Gladion said, letting his bangs fall back. Lillie nodded, lifting her head again.

“Of course!” Her mother said, moving forward to put a hand on one shoulder of each sibling. “You’re friends of my daughter’s and if it means keeping the two of you safe, you can stay for as long as you need to! I never want to see any children suffering! Anything you need, you just ask!”

Lillie was starting to sniffle again, even though she was smiling. Tears were welling up fast in her eyes, and Moon’s mother quickly pulled her into a hug, humming and whispering soothing words to her. Lillie sobbed into her chest and Moon saw her finger’s fisting in the fabric of her mother’s shirt. She kept saying thank you over and over again and hiccupping in between words.

“Of course, of course,” the older woman soothed, “I can’t stand to think of you two out on the streets. You stay here as long as you like. You’re no trouble at all.” Lillie pushed harder into her. “You poor thing… I’m so sorry you’ve been through all this…”

Gladion stood watching his sister cry. Moon couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but his left hand was clenching and unclenching as it shook by his side. As delicately as she could, Moon reached over and held it in her own hands, encasing it with her own. His shoulders jolted at the contact, but he turned his gaze to look at the way she cupped his hand in her own.

He looked up at her and said calmly, “I’m not hugging you.”

Moon only smiled and laughed a little bit at that. “I wasn’t asking you to.”

“Please,” her mother said, turning to look at the boy, “I need to know what happened. I need to know what to say and what to do. I need to know how I can help you both.”

“You’re already helping,” Gladion said to her, expression one of the softest Moon had ever seen on his face.

“I get my persistence from somewhere, Gladion,” Moon said, almost teasing. He gave her a curious look, and she said, “I’m just like my mom. I want to help as much as she does. She's not going to take no for an answer here.”

He looked back and forth between the mother and daughter for a moment before sighing and giving in. They all sat around the dinner table and he began to explain the basics of the situation.

“Well, obviously you know about our mother being abusive,” he said, looking at the older woman. Moon was sitting across from him, her mother sitting to Gladion’s left. “She’s been like this ever since our father disappeared. He and mother were doing research on wormholes and something went wrong and father got sucked into one. None of the workers will tell us what actually happened, but Lillie and I have known for a long time that it went wrong. Mother stopped the wormhole research after that, it wasn’t a difficult leap.” Lillie was squeezing the box of tissues as he talked. “But… something happened to her. After that day she was never the same. She wasn’t terrible at first, but she started distancing herself from us and focusing more on work. When she was forced to spend time with us she didn’t really recognize us as her children…” He paused, looking at his hand, turning it over and tugging his sleeve down a little bit. His voice was quiet when he spoke again. “Soon she started yelling… Screaming sometimes,” Lillie pulled the box closer to her chest, “I snuck into the research labs once and saw her experimenting on a Pichu… She caught me and beat me for being where I wasn’t supposed to be… As if that was supposed to scare me away. It only made me more curious.”

A sad smile tugged at his lips as he pulled his sleeve back up. “She tried having guards watch for me, but when you live with them for so long you learn their routine…” The smile quickly fell, though, and Moon saw him shifting around until he set a pokeball on the table. He stared at it for a long time, not saying a word. Lillie turned her head to look at him, eyes watery. “The research team finally managed to make something…” he said, “I hadn’t even realized that was what they were trying to do… But they made a new Pokemon… They were experimenting on it. Changing it's genetic structure. I took it the first chance I got. Mother’s never been able to find Null’s pokeball anywhere I hide it, but she’s never been happy that I stole from her.”

“Null?” Moon’s mother asked, looking confused.

Gladion nodded his head toward the pokeball on the able. “You can open it if you want. It might scratch up your floors, though…”

Moon’s mother looked unsure. Moon saw her flex her fingers, so Moon picked up the red and white ball for her and let Gladion’s pokemon out. Type:Null stood tall and proud once the glow faded. It looked around confused a couple of times before nudging it’s giant metal head against it’s owner's arm.

Gladion gave Null a few pats on the head as he spoke. “Mother started calling me to see her after I took Null. She would try to get me to tell her where I had hid it. I had told her that I wasn’t going to let her have it back. Experimenting on living creatures isn’t right… Even synthetic ones made in a lab...” He laughed after that, an empty, dead sounding laugh, and he scratched the underside of Null’s neck. “She decided a good punishment would be experimenting on me a couple of times. Since I seemed to care so much.”

A loud pop startled all of them into pausing. Everyone turned to look at the source of the noise, still held tight in Lillie’s white knuckled grip. She had crushed the tissue box she was holding it so hard. Moon looked up at her face and she was even paler than normal. She looked like she was going vomit. Quickly Moon got up and grabbed an empty old bowl and set it in front of her, taking the tissue box away. Lillie looked at the bowl for a brief moment, but Moon only pushed it closer to her. Her mother had been talking about throwing that one out anyway.

“Lillie…” Gladion’s voice was just a whisper as he looked at his trembling sister.

“She experimented on you…”

Moon tried to rub her shoulders comfortingly, but Lillie remained tense.

Tears started rolling down the blonde girl’s cheeks and she had to take a few deep breaths before she was able to hiccup out her thoughts. “A-and you-you never t-told me-e any of this?”

There was a desperate look to Lillie’s face. Soft hiccups shook her frame.

“Y-you went through all-all of this a-and you ne-never-“ she couldn’t keep going. The hiccups cut her off and she had to wipe her face free of tears.

“I couldn’t,” Gladion whispered as she held a tissue close to her face. “I couldn’t risk you trying to save me.” Sadness colored Gladion’s green eyes then, though his face pulled into a smile. “You’re my baby sister. I couldn’t let you get hurt.”

Lillie made a choked noise caught somewhere between a laugh and a sob. She sniffled and smiled at her brother, holding out a hand to him. He took it and rubbed his thumb back and forth across the back of her hand.

Moon could see her mother was crying, but she hadn’t said a word.

“If it means keeping you safe, then I want to get hurt,” Lillie said. A pained smile passed over Gladion’s face. “It's not fair that you're hurting yourself so much for me... I can be brave. I’ve got you with me and we’ve both got Moon with us.” The pale girl turned and took Moon’s hand with her free one. “I’m not so scared as long as I’ve got you two with me.”

A soft chuckle left Moon’s lips. “You’ve only known me for a few weeks.”

“And look at what you’ve done for me in spite of that,” Lillie said back, closing her eyes with a soft smile, “You’ve given me and my brother a wonderful friendship and a place to stay without any way to pay you back. Either of you, actually.” She looked at Moon’s mother when she said that. “I owe you both so much and I’m so grateful you moved to Alola.” The older woman offered a sympathetic, kind smile in return.

“I’m not sure where we’d be without you,” she said, looking to her brother again, “I couldn’t think of anywhere to go after we left the manor… It’s lucky Gladion thought of you, Moon. We might have ended up wandering the streets if it had been up to me to decide!”

Moon squeezed Lillie’s hand tight. “All you would have needed to do was call me and I would have come to get you anyway.”

“Even at one in the morning?”

A nod. “Even at one in the morning,” Moon affirmed.


	26. Think About Yourself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy  
> i'm dying squirtle  
> SORRY FOR THE DELAY WITH UPDATES AND THE LACK OF WORD FROM ME GUYS  
> FINALS ARE COMING UP AND IT'S GETTIGN DOWN TO THE WIRE FOR MY FINAL ANIMATION PROJECT  
> I'M SUPER SWAMPED WITH WORK FOR THAT  
> UPDATES ARE DEFINITELY GONNA BE SLOWER FOR A WHILE  
> SORRY IN ADVANCE

                After about three hours of having the siblings in her home, Moon came to a sudden realization. She had only just been going to help her mother clear out the guest bedroom for Gladion, but froze in lifting a box.

                “Moon?” her mother paused, “Are you worried about your friend sleeping alone?”

                “We don’t have any clothes,” she muttered, staring at the wall ahead of her.

                “What?”

                “Clothes,” Moon repeated, setting the box back down and looking at her mother. “We don’t have any clothes for Gladion and Lillie.”

                Her mother blinked a couple of times. “Oh… Should we go buy some for them? Should they go buy them? I don't know their measurements...”

                “I don’t know if they’d be up for that,” Moon said, peeking out the door to look at the siblings, who were both sitting on the couch like her mother ordered them to. They had both offered to help, but her mother told them no quite firmly.

                “You’ve both been through far too much for me to make you do any work,” she had said, “You just sit and try to rest your nerves.”

                Her mother hummed for a moment, rubbing her chin. “You’re going to have to ask, unfortunately… I don’t want to force them outside if they’re still feeling upset. I won’t blame them if they want to stay inside for a few days.”

                Moon peeked out at the siblings. The two of them weren’t talking to each other, just sitting on the couch together. Moon still didn’t know exactly what happened to Lillie, but she was hopeful that they would tell her as they spent more time with her and her mother.

                Would they want to go shopping? She couldn’t imagine wanting to go out and do much in their situation. Especially if they were worried their mother had people out looking for them. Lillie could always borrow some of her clothes… They were about the same size after all. But Gladion? Moon scowled. He might be able to borrow a couple of the sweaters that were too big on her, but she didn’t really have anything else that would fit him.

                She groaned a little to herself. Under normal circumstances shopping with them wouldn’t be so bad. She wished she knew a way to cheer them up.

                Finally she gave up and walked out toward them. They both looked up at her expectantly, and Moon felt a little nervous under the twin lime green gazes.

                “Okay, so um,” she began, “While mom and I were cleaning up the guest room I kind of realized something…”

                “It’s not suitable for us?” Lillie asked, looking worried, “Oh no, I knew something like this would happen, where are we going to go?!”

                “Woah, woah, Lillie, calm down,” Moon quickly jumped forward, putting a hand on her shoulder, “It’s nothing like that.” Lillie exhaled slowly, putting a hand to her heart, and Moon spoke again. “I just realized we don’t have any clothes for you guys. Well, I mean, you could borrow some of my stuff if you want Lillie, but Gladion…” She turned her head to look at the boy.

                “I feel really weird asking you guys to go shopping, but we kinda… you know…” Moon pulled herself back away from Lillie and tugged at the bottom of her own shirt.

                “I can just wear the same thing every day,” Gladion mumbled from where he sat on the couch.

                Lillie quickly turned her head and frowned at him. “That’s unsanitary, Gladion,” she tutted, “Being clean is supposed to help improve your mood and overall mental stability.”

                “Lot of good that did mother,” he spat, eyes cold and face set in a hard frown, “I don’t give a fuck if my clothes are clean or dirty, Lillie.”

                Moon had seen the slight cringe in Lillie’s form when Gladion snapped back at her, but she quickly straightened back out. “Maybe some time out on the town is just what we need!” she said, “Maybe we need some time to relax and enjoy ourselves!”

                Gladion rolled his eyes. “What we need is a fucking roof over our head, Lillie. All the other stuff isn’t as important.”

                Lillie hopped up off the couch and pouted down at him, hands going to fists on her hips. “We’re going shopping! You’ve spent so long keeping me in the dark and trying so hard to be the big strong older brother that you deserve some time to relax!”

                “I can relax without leaving the house.”

                “That’s what you always did back in the manor!” Lillie protested, “You always shut yourself away in your room and I hardly ever saw you!” Gladion pulled his shoulders up near his ears, frowning harder. “We’re away from mother now! We can finally go out and about without having to notify her or Miss Wicke! Don’t you want to do that?”

                Gladion looked at Moon, almost pleadingly. Moon put her hands up in front of herself and took a step back. “Hey, don’t look at me,” she said, “I’m the one who suggested shopping in the first place, remember?”

                He groaned and closed his eyes at that. He sat there, pulling a hand up to rub at his forehead before eventually saying, “Let’s just try to make it fast, okay? I don’t want to risk someone from the manor finding us.”

                Moon frowned as he stood up. “Are you sure? We don’t have to. I understand if you need time to get over all of this…” She was thinking of Ilima as she said it, remembering how he said Gladion needed time to heal and calm down.

                He looked away from her and squared up his shoulders. “Like I said, I kind of got used to it… I’m not as bothered by this…” Moon fidgeted, he saw it, and he quickly said, “I’ll be fine. Let’s just go get this over with.”

                With a bit of an uncomfortable sigh, Moon went and asked her mother for money.

                “They actually want to go?” her mother asked, looking at the siblings nervously.

                “Lillie thinks it will help them unwind,” Moon answered. She still wasn’t convinced on Gladion, but maybe he would use the time they spent buying clothes to relax. That was the most she could hope for. She understood him more than she had before, but Gladion still confused her. Lillie actually confused her too. Both of these siblings were strange and Moon only wanted to help them. Her mother gave her a credit card instead of cash. Who knew how much they’d spend.

                The three teens left the house and began the walk up to the mall. Moon felt so awkward with them. She worried if she said anything she might send Lillie into a crying fit or Gladion into a rage.

                At one point she was looking at Gladion and he noticed. He made a bit of a face and said, “Moon, I’m all right…” Her cheeks went pink and she tried to wave her hands in front of her.

                “Moon’s just worried about us, Gladion,” Lillie said to him before turning her head to smile at Moon, “I think it’s wonderfully sweet that you care so much, Moon. Thank you. We don’t deserve a friend like you.”

                Moon couldn’t really respond to that. She just smiled and nodded awkwardly while they walked.

                The three of them walked around stores together. None of them had said anything, but they just instinctively stayed near each other. The fear of people possibly looking for the siblings was unspoken, but hung over them like heavy clouds.

                Of course all three of them were glancing over their shoulders occasionally. Why did they think this would be relaxing? This was more stressful than being back in the house.

                “How about this,” Moon spoke after seeing both Lillie and Gladion checking around them, “How about I watch for people while you two pick stuff out?” After they looked at each other and agreed that seemed like a good idea, Moon asked, “Who am I supposed to be looking for?”

                Gladion sighed. “Why don’t I watch and you help Lillie pick clothes for now?” Moon tried to argue, but he lifted a finger into the air in front of her and she went quiet. She still stood there looking at him, though. “Moon.”

                She went the few paces away to where Lillie was standing and watching them. Lillie offered a meager smile, but Moon only huffed and looked at the clothes Lillie was holding. All white.

                “You’ve picked white clothes again,” Moon commented after thinking over her words. Had Lillie’s mother always made her wear white? She didn’t know, so she chose not to make accusations.

                Lillie looked at the clothes. “Oh,” she adjusted the bundle in her arms, “I’m just so used to wearing light clothes like this…”

                “Well if you borrow my clothes, most of them aren’t like this,” Moon said, hands going to rest on her hips. “I think I have a couple of white outfits, but not much…” If white was Lillie’s comfort zone, Moon would try to accommodate her. Maybe they could bleach some of her own clothes? She wasn’t sure, but she wanted to help. “We’ll figure something out.”

                The two girls continued looking through dresses, shirts, shorts, underwear, the whole bunch. Moon managed to convince Lillie to get a white dress with a light orange flower print on it. Lillie had tried not to, but Moon told her, “You like looking cute, right?”

                “Um…” Lillie didn’t seem to understand.

                “Well, this will look cute on you, and I’m sure you’ll be happy in it, so we’re getting it.”

                Lillie stammered as Moon tucked the dress into the bundle of clothes Lillie already had. “O-okay…?”

                Moon turned to Gladion and said, “All right, Lillie’s all set.”

                He turned to look at them. “Are you sure this isn’t too much?” Lillie asked, following beside Moon, “I don’t want to spend too much of your mother’s money.”

                “Don’t worry, Lillie,” Moon said with a little smile, “My dad used to mooch off my mom all the time. This is nothing compared to that.” Probably not the most cheerful comparison. Lillie’s worried and confused face made it pretty clear that Moon really didn’t help the situation. She groaned at herself for it. “Look, Lils, I just mean… Don’t worry about the cost, okay?”

                They went to a different store after that to shop for Gladion. It was full of darker clothes and very little white. There was more pink than white in the store. Lillie stood out like a sore thumb. At least Moon was wearing black shorts.

                “Uh… Maybe I should take this as my turn to watch for anyone from the manor,” Lillie said, excusing herself from the curious looks the other people in the shop were sending her way.

                “You sure you don’t want to shop with your brother?” Moon asked, but Lillie had already scurried out of the store.

                Moon pouted and looked at Gladion. He sighed and rolled his shoulders. Moon heard them crack as he did. “Lillie’s nervous,” he said, walking over to a display full of shirts, “Can’t really blame her for not wanting to be stared at…”

                “I don’t blame her,” Moon said, “I just figured she’d feel more comfortable with you than alone.”

                Gladion lifted up a shirt that had a big Alolan Vulpix head printed on the front. The rest of the shirt was blue. “You think she’d like this?”

                It took Moon a moment to understand what he was asking. “Lillie?” she asked. He nodded and Moon huffed at him. “You’re supposed to be shopping for yourself.” He set the shirt back down and went around picking things up and occasionally putting them over his left arm. Moon followed him a little, but would stop to look at things herself too. She found a squishy Alolan Grimer keychain that made her smile, but hung it back up and walked over to look at the belts. Did Gladion wear belts?

                After a while the blond boy walked over to her. She looked at the bundle he held in his arms. It was smaller than the bundle Lillie had.

                “Gladion, you really should buy more than that…”

                He rolled his eyes. “I’ll be fine. Let’s just pay for this so Lillie’s not alone any longer.”

                Moon crossed her arms. “You’re not even going to grab another shirt just to appease me?”

                “I don’t need it.”

                “Gladion…”

                Now he scowled at her. “Look, I’m fine, can we just stop worrying about me? Lillie’s the one who needs help right now.” Moon was a little startled by the outburst, but she didn’t argue with him. She just nodded and went with him to pay.

                “Gladion,” Moon’s voice was quiet. The cashier had gone to get a larger bag for all their stuff. The air was tense, but when he heard her voice that close to a whisper he sighed.

                “I’m not mad at you,” Gladion said.

                “Do you not _want_ to think about yourself?”

                He blinked a couple of times before turning to look at her after the question. At first he looked confused, but seeing the worried look on Moon’s face made his expression mimic hers. He turned his head back forward again and pulled his shoulders up closer to his neck. He didn’t answer her. With a tiny, sad smile on her face, Moon put her hand on Gladion’s arm. She didn’t need him to answer. This one moment had just explained so much to her about Gladion. He didn’t worry about himself. He didn’t want to care about himself. The lies to protect Lillie, the self-harm, the way he pushed everyone away from his problems. It was all because he didn’t care. He didn’t care about himself. Moon could feel her eyes blurring with tears welling up fast, and she quickly took her hand back to wipe them away before they fell.

                He gently took hold of her arm and pulled her to walk with him out of the store. “Come on, Lillie’s waiting…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seem to remember some people saying they wanted to see Moon and Gladion shopping together--- not exactly sure this is what you wanted


	27. Nebby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. 
> 
> Sorry it's been so long everyone. I've had a crazy busy year. I know people have wanted a new chapter. I've gotten comments in my inbox, I've seen em. I wanted to update, I've just... Had a lot on my plate.. New doctor, no real job, a freelance job finally coming up, dog got hurt twice, family issues, therapy, the works...
> 
>  
> 
> I hope everyone likes what I'm working on now. I've got a couple chapters written up so the updates shouldn't be so slow.

With shopping bags in hand, the three teens made their way to the mall exit. Lillie’s bags were considerably more full than Gladion’s were, but Moon wasn’t going to keep arguing with him. They were upset. She didn’t want to keep adding to the stress.

“Oh,” Moon stopped in front of a bakery. The siblings turned back to look at her. Patting her pockets, feeling her camera, Moon grimaced. “We need to report your mother to the police.”

Gladion let his head fall. Lillie stared at Moon for a brief moment before she looked at Gladion. “I had forgotten,” she said, “You did tell me about that while we were taking pictures of the bruises…” He didn’t answer, just shifted his feet around.

Moon took the few steps over to him needed to put her hand on his arm. “Hey,” she said, voice low, “I know you don’t wanna, but maybe the police can find out if something happened with her mentally to make her like this. It could give a real reason for all this.”

Gladion scoffed. “Besides our dad getting sucked into fucking space?” Moon only rubbed his arm in response. With a sigh, he gave in and the three of them made their way to the police station, glancing over their shoulders the entire time.  
They handed over the camera’s memory card and the two siblings explained most of their situation to the cops. It took them each four hours. They had been taken into a room without Moon and she was left to sit in the lobby and wait. She let her mother know what they were doing via text and waited with her hands clenched tight in her lap. If it were allowed, she would have had her Rowlet out and would have been cuddling him close.

The cops had asked her what she knew about the situation, but Moon had told them she was just a friend there for emotional support. They took her information down either way.

When the two siblings came back out, Lillie had a strange looking Pokemon in her arms. It was mostly purple and blue, and looked like a tiny living cloud full of stars. Moon stood and looked at it before looking at Lillie.

Lillie didn’t say anything, her cheeks were pink and tear-stained, so Moon looked to Gladion. He laughed a little. “Turns out I’m not the only one who stole a Pokemon from our mother,” he said, patting his sister on the back, “Seems keeping secrets runs in our family.”

“Wow,” Moon breathed, looking at the strange Pokemon, “What is it?”

“I named him Nebby,” Lillie said, “I think they said he was a Cosmog.” As if in reply to Lillie, the puffy little Pokemon let out a cute little “Pew!” noise.

Moon smiled and looked up at the two blondes again. “Well,” she said, “It looks like I’m friends with a couple of thieves.”

“Rescuers,” Gladion quickly countered back.

“Right, right,” Moon chuckled, “Light fingered rescuers.” Lillie sniffled out a little sob and Moon quickly had to tell her she was only kidding. 

It didn’t take them long to get back to Moon’s house after all of that. It was dinner time by then. Moon’s mother had actually already prepared it, and had just been keeping it warm for them. She asked how it all went, giving a hug to those who wanted one. “Oh, who is this?” she asked when Nebby floated out of Lillie’s arms.

“Nebby,” Lillie said, “He’s my partner… And my friend.”

Moon’s mother smiled. “Well, he’s very cute. I’m sure he will help you through this difficult time. Come on, you three. Supper’s ready.”

They had only gotten halfway through dinner before Gladion’s phone started ringing. He got up from the table as he answered, pacing back and forth across the living room floor. “I understand… Yes sir,” he razzed as he listened, “All right. I would just appreciate you keep our location secret… No. No, that shouldn’t be necessary… Yes. Okay. Thank you.” He lowered the phone with a click and looked at the others.

“What happened?” Moon asked at almost the exact same moment Lillie did. Gladion walked back over to the group and slowly lowered himself into the chair.

“Mother is fighting our accusations and is saying we’re liars… She’s taking us to court,” was all he said before putting his face in his hands.

Moon’s mother was the next one to speak after a long moment of silence. “Is the island going to provide a lawyer for you two? You’re only children.”

Gladion shook his head slowly, still in his palms. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask… fuck…” He slapped his hand against the tabletop. “Fuck! What kind of mother takes her own fucking kids to court?!”

Lillie jumped when he hit the table, but quickly put her hand on his and tried to comfort him. “Mother hasn’t been herself in a long time… You and I both know it. Something’s happened to her to make her this way…”

“But you and I aren’t like her! We lost dad too!” Gladion yelled, turning his head toward Lillie, left hand by his face shaking violently. “We went through it too, but we didn’t end up like she did!”

Lillie just kept her hand on her brother’s and spoke quietly to him. Moon reached her own hand over the table and took his shaking left hand in hers. Gladion blinked up at her after looking at her hand. He looked at his sister as well, for a moment, and exhaled slowly.

“I thought I was supposed to be the strong one here,” he said with a little laugh. It was an empty, false laugh. 

“Even the strongest people need help every now and then,” Moon’s mother said, earning his attention. “No one is Arceus.”

When they finished dinner Lillie went into the bathroom to shower and change into some pajamas. Gladion waited in the living room on the couch with Moon and her mother. He didn’t fight Moon as she continued to hold his hand. He just sat and watched as Meowth played with Nebby. They were surprisingly cute. Nebby would float down until he was just close enough that Meowth thought she could catch him and when she pounced, he would pop up out of her reach.

Lillie’s hair was wrapped up in a towel on her head and she had the new white pajamas she had just bought on. They had patterns of Alolan Vulpix on them and big false cuffs on the sleeves. 

“Gladion, did you buy any pajamas?” Moon asked, suddenly thinking of it while she looked at Lillie.

The boy blinked a few times before saying, “I think I bought some sweatpants and stuff…” Moon sighed at that and let go of him. He went to the guest room, grabbed his clothes, and went into the bathroom.

“You two like to shower at night, huh?” Moon’s mother asked Lillie as the teen sat down.

Nodding, Lillie said, “Yeah. I don’t like having to deal with wet hair in the mornings. Gladion just never wakes up early enough to shower in the mornings…”

Looking at her daughter, Moon’s mother smirked. “Sounds an awful lot like someone I know.” Moon stuck her tongue out and proceeded to pout.

“Not my fault mornings suck…”

Lillie eventually let her hair out of the towel and began brushing it. Meowth came over and began playing with the long blond strands as she did, leaving Nebby to float around the room. 

Moon watched her for a moment before turning to her mom, who was getting up. “I think I’m going to bed,” she said, “Whatever you three decide about school is fine. Just make the decision you think is best.” She was looking at Lillie while she said it, and the blonde nodded. With one final pat to her daughter’s shoulder, the older woman walked to her bedroom.

Lillie sighed loudly from where she sat. “I feel so bad about all this…”

“If you don’t feel safe going tomorrow, you don’t have to, Lils…” Moon said. “But the others might get suspicious if you’re both missing again.” 

She put her face into her hands, just like her brother had earlier, and groaned before whimpering. “I just feel so awful… I don’t want to keep lying to Hau… He doesn’t deserve that…”

“If he knew what was going on, though, I’m sure he would understand.”

“You think so?” Lillie looked up, eyes glassy, “He wouldn’t be mad?”

Moon smirked. “I have yet to see Hau get mad about anything.” Lillie smiled at that and resumed brushing her hair. “Maybe you can stay home and pretend to still be sick and Gladion can go to school… Since his excuse was that he was just skipping yesterday…”

Gladion stepped out of the bathroom halfway through Moon’s sentence and stood in the doorway to listen. “What about my excuse?” he asked, rubbing his towel on his head.

“Moon thinks it would be a good idea for you to go to school tomorrow and for me to stay here again and pretend to still be sick,” Lillie answered.

After thinking on it for a moment, Gladion nodded. “All right. I can wear a hoodie and hide my face in case mother is finally looking for us.”

Lillie went to bed first, but Moon saw her holding her phone as she walked, so she figured she would probably be texting Hau instead of sleeping. As long as she didn’t spill the beans it was fine. Moon and Gladion sat in the living room and watched Meowth push her way into Moon’s room.

“So, uh,” Moon cleared her throat before she continued. “So… about the conversation we had at the mall…”

“It’s fine,” Gladion cut across, “Your mother was right. I want to help Lillie, but I can’t do that alone. I need help too…” He looked at her with a little smile and it startled Moon to realize his bangs were tucked behind his ear and she could see his entire face. She could feel her cheeks heat up and so she had to look away. “What?” 

Moon waved her hand at him, and squeaked out, “Nothing, nothing, it’s just weird seeing both of your eyes at once.” She heard him chuckle at that, so she looked up and jutted out her lower lip. “It’s not funny!”

He continued chuckling and shook his head a few times. “It’s pretty funny,” he said, “You can sit there and dance with Kiawe with his freaking nips out,” Moon squawked as he said that, but he kept going, “but you get all girly when I don’t have my hair in my face!”

“I’m used to Kiawe!” Moon argued, swatting at his knee. “Stop laughing!” Her yelling seemed to only make him laugh harder, though, and eventually she just gave up and pouted at him.

Once he finally calmed down, Gladion let out a slow exhale. “I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you,” he admitted, “You’re just trying to help me… Guess I’m not really used to that yet.” 

Moon put her hand on his knee and rubbed back and forth. “Maybe Lillie can help.”

He had been looking at her hand while she talked, but lifted his gaze when she said that. With a funny look on his face, he asked, “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Well, aren’t you going to help too?” he asked.

Moon hummed for a moment. “Nah, I’m just gonna say fuck it.”


	28. Welcome Back, You Edgy, Edgy Moron...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TBH, watching the anime I ship Mallow and Lillie like crazy. They're adorable together.  
> In the games and the Specials I ship Hau and Lillie, though...
> 
>  
> 
> And then in the anime I ship Ash and Kiawe. (I know I know)
> 
>  
> 
> I wanted to post this one for now because the next update will probably be at least a week... The Holidays and then my freelance job are at the same time...

Lillie was up when Moon and Gladion were. She was fussing over Gladion, making sure he had his hood pulled far enough forward that his face was sufficiently hidden. She kept saying that he needed to be safe and to look out for anyone from the manor.

  
 “I’ll be fine, Lillie,” he said, pushing her hands out of his face, “Now just let me eat something, okay?”

  
 Moon’s mother had already left for work. The kids were on their own for breakfast. It wasn’t too bad, though. Moon was a pretty good cook and they had plenty of eggs and fruit. Gladion had tried to argue for just having a couple pieces of toast, but both Lillie and Moon shut that down before he could finish the sentence. He had to sit and listen to them and wait while they both cooked. He tried to help, but Lillie wouldn’t let him. She said she wanted to make a meal for once instead of mother doing it for them.

  
 “After all, I’ve been taking Home Ec! I know some new recipes and stuff!” She said, smiling and putting her hands on her hips. “Maybe I’ll even try baking while you two are at school!”

  
 Before she ate, Moon made sure to feed Meowth. The little cat Pokemon had been screaming at her the entire time she helped cook. The entire time. “Why did you wait until after you cooked to feed her?” Gladion asked, rubbing his head as if he had a headache.

  
 Moon shrugged. “She screams as long as there’s food nearby that she isn’t eating. As soon as she finished she would just scream at us at the table.” And she did. Once she finished her own food, she yowled at the three kids as they ate their own breakfast.

When Gladion looked up at her, Moon made a smug face at him. “Told ya so.”

  
 The two of them were pulling their backpacks on by the front door and Lillie was still tugging at her brother’s hood. Moon ended up having to yank him out the front door by his arm to get her to leave him alone.

  
 “Be safe!” Lillie called to them as they left. Moon waved and quickened her pace.

  
 “Hey, wait up,” Gladion said, jogging to her side.

  
 Moon swatted at him. “No, we gotta get there at different times!” she yelled, “If anyone recognizes you they can’t know who you’re with!”

  
 Huffing, Gladion asked, “But if they recognize me, wouldn’t they just wait for me all day and see us leaving together?”

  
 “Well, we just gotta try and be careful,” Moon said, “Just go with it for now!”

  
 “Fine…”

  
 Sun was already at his locker when Moon got in and he of course gave her a typical greeting by asking her how she was doing and ruffling her hair. She smacked his hand away and pointed right in his face. “Don’t you touch my hair ever again.”

  
 “Nice to see you too,” he teased, turning back to his locker. Moon opened her own and started getting her stuff out. “Oh, look, the Edgelord is back.” Moon turned and looked at Gladion as he walked up to them. “How ya been, Edgy?”

  
 “Fuck off,” Gladion responded to Sun.

  
 “You and Moon are both just such peachy people in the mornings,” Sun said, “No Lillie again?”

  
 Gladion shook his head, pulling his hoodie back. “Nah, she’s not coming in today. She’s gonna try and see if she can do stuff, but I doubt it’ll be much. She’ll probably text Hau…”

  
 “Just Hau?” Moon asked, smirking, “Nobody else?”

  
 “I dunno… Why?” Moon only rolled her shoulders with a smile. Sun seemed to catch on and laughed. Now Gladion frowned. “What?”

  
 Sun chuckled. “You think you’ll be able to handle it if they start dating?”

  
 “Dating?” Gladion asked, looking startled. “Why would Lillie and Hau be dating?”

  
 “Geeze, dude, how fucking blind are you?” Sun asked, shutting his locker, “They like each other, idiot.”

  
 Gladion’s brow furrowed. “They’re friends, of course they like each other…” He looked to Moon like she had an answer for him. Moon only smirked, shared a look with Sun, and shut her locker. The two oddly named teens said goodbye to him and went to their English class.

  
 Lana was happy to see them. She was confused by Lillie being gone again, but smiled anyway.

  
 “What were we supposed to be doing in Breeding today again?” Moon asked her as she sat down.

  
 “Still checking on the eggs the other groups have,” she replied.

  
 “Ah, shit, right,” Moon grumbled, “I forgot since ours already hatched.”

  
 “Yeah… Kiawe kinda made our job go a lot faster,” Lana said, “His sister probably carried it everywhere. He says walking with your egg helps it to hatch faster.”

  
 Sun hummed. “I guess he must be right.”

  
 Class went by fairly uneventfully. Nothing interesting really happened. Moon wasn’t sure if she was thankful the weekend was coming up soon or not. Today was kinda weird. It was especially weird with the prospect of spending an entire weekend with her two friends. She liked them and all, but it didn’t exactly count as a sleepover. What were with their mother threatening them and all.

  
 Moon and Lana walked to class together, saying hi to Mallow once they ran into her. The green haired girl asked them both if Lillie and Gladion were back today. “Gladion is,” Moon answered, “Lillie’s still sick, he says.”

  
 “Geeze,” Mallow huffed, “Well, she did seem pretty out of sorts for a couple days there. Wonder if she caught a bug, too. Kiawe’s sick. His mom said he was throwing up all last night.”

  
 “Yeesh,” Moon hissed, “that sounds awful.”

  
 Lana nodded as she took a seat. “He probably got it from Hoshi. Little kids have tons of germs. My sisters get me sick all the freaking time.”

  
 The three girls sat in class and talked for a while. “Hau’s probably shattered with Lillie not being here,” Mallow said, “I know I am.” Moon shifted her weight and tried not to look suspicious. “Did I ever tell you I had a crush on Lillie when I first met her?” Mallow asked, turning her head to Moon.

  
 Moon blinked. “No. No, I don’t think you did.”

  
 “Yeah,” Mallow sighed, “She was just so nice and so cute, ya know? I had a crush on Ilima too for a while there.”

  
 Lana chuckled. “I think everyone had a crush on Ilima at one point or another.”

  
 “I don’t,” Moon said, frowning a little.

  
 Lana patted her on the shoulder. “You poor misguided soul.”

  
 “What’s that supposed to mean?” Moon asked, puffing her cheeks, “He’s nice and he’s handsome, but I don’t have a crush on him.”

  
 “No, you’ve got a crush on Kiawe,” Mallow said, wagging her finger in Moon’s face, “And don’t say you don’t, because you do.” Moon only blushed and looked at her feet. “Knew it,” Mallow grinned and said, “He’s a good guy. Don’t really blame you.”

  
 “You never liked him?”

  
 “Nah, he’s practically my brother. Lana’s too. We’ve known him since we were like… pffff, eight? I think? Well, Lana was seven… But yeah, it’s been a long time.” Lana nodded as Mallow spoke. And Mallow continued. “To be honest, Moon, at first I thought you liked Gladion.”

 “Yeah, same,” Lana commented.

  
 Moon blinked. “Gladion?” she parroted, “I mean, he’s nice and all, but I guess I never even thought about it.”

  
 “You get along real well. Your personalities are pretty similar, too,” Mallow said, “You’ve fought a couple times, but otherwise you’re like a couple of Caterpies in a pod.”

  
 “That is one of the weirdest sayings I have ever heard.”

  
 In Home Ec, because Hau didn’t have a partner again, he was allowed to work with Moon and Mallow. He kept muttering about how he hoped Lillie was okay. Moon felt so guilty standing next to him. She was lying to all of her friends. Now she understood why Lillie was so worried about this.

  
 “Don’t worry, Hau,” Mallow said as she washed flour off her hands, “I’m sure she’ll be back tomorrow.”

  
 “She’s never been sick before!” Hau argued, a sad pout on his face, “What if she has to go to the hospital?”

  
 “Now, Hau,” Mallow put a hand on his shoulder, “You’re overreacting and you know it. Lillie will be fine.”

  
 Her words seemed to comfort him, but he still had a sad look on his face for the rest of the class. During math, he kept sighing. Sun would rub his back or pat his shoulders. At least he had friends who cared about him.

  
 As soon as Hau saw Gladion in lunch, he latched onto his arm and demanded to know what was wrong with Lillie. “Is she okay? Did she have a fever? What did she eat? Don’t let her eat that ever again!”

  
 Trying to pry him off, Gladion said, “She’s okay, she’s okay. She’s just been feeling tired and had some bad headaches. Didn’t she text you? Leggo!”

  
 Hearing that, Hau went, “Oh yeah!” and let go to type away on his phone. Gladion backed away and sat himself down next to Moon at the table. He kept a wary eye on Hau, though. He didn’t want more questions.

  
 “How are you holding up?” Moon asked, placing a hand on his arm.

  
 He rolled his shoulders and elected to eat instead of answer. He paused, however, when he saw Mina watching them again. “Don’t tell me…”

  
 Moon blinked a few times before turning her head toward Mina. “It was there again,” Mina murmured, “Whatever it is. It’s like… an aura… I don’t know…”

  
 Gladion rolled his eyes. “So Moon and I have an aura around us?”

  
 “It’s gone now,” Mina grumbled, “You two need to let me paint you so I can capture this in the moment.”

  
 “Not gonna happen,” was all Gladion said before he resumed eating.

  
 Moon offered Mina a sympathetic smile. “Maybe you could paint someone else until we can finally get him to agree?” Gladion made an offended sound at that, but Moon ignored him. Acerola offered up letting Mina paint her and her Mimikyu. Mina said she would think about it.

  
 Sophocles frowned. “How come you never ask to paint me?”

  
 “I have asked you,” Mina said, “You were working on some robot project. I think you tuned me out.”

  
 “Oh.” The redhead’s cheeks darkened in embarrassment, “Sorry.”  
 


	29. Moon's Baby Pictures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The spacing is being weird for me... Sorry if it looks different. I can't seem to get it right without having to go in and add another space in between each line...
> 
>  
> 
> Also- hi!  
> Happy almost New Year
> 
>  
> 
> Hey- Question- How many people liked Paul from the Diamond and Pearl Pokémon anime?? Cuz I loved him. He was such an asshole. He was my favorite.

                During Battle Tactics, Moon had to restrain herself from asking Gladion any questions about Lillie. She wanted to know how she was doing, but she didn’t want to reveal anything until the two siblings felt comfortable enough.

                When class was done, Moon had started to leave with Gladion, but he stopped her. “Woah, woah,” he put his arm out, bumping her ribs, “Weren’t you the one who suggested we leave separately?”

                “Oh, yeah,” Moon flushed, “I forgot.” Gladion smiled at her after she said that and said he would see her later. She nodded and walked as slowly as possible to her locker. Sun wished her a good weekend before he ran off. She wished him the same.

                When she got back to her house, Moon was greeted with a big hug from Lillie. “I made homemade malasadas!” she said, dragging her inside, “Try one! Try one!”

                Moon looked over at Gladion, who was already holding one of the pastries in his hands, and silently asked how it was. He only shrugged and continued to eat it. Lillie practically shoved the plate of sugar dusted treats in her face. Moon took one off the top and bit down carefully. It was a little sweet for her tastes, but she told Lillie it was good.

                “So how did it go?” Lillie asked, looking at her brother, “Did you see anyone from the manor?”

                “No,” Gladion replied, “I thought I did, but when I checked again it was a false alarm.” Lillie looked a little sad, but said she was relieved. Moon felt bad for her. She couldn’t really picture how this must feel.

                “Oh, hey,” Moon started shuffling through her backpack, “I got some homework for you, Lillie… If you want it that is.”

                “How did you get that?” Gladion asked, “You don’t know where we live.”

                “I told the professors that you were in today and I could just give it to you,” Moon replied.

                Gladion’s face was flat. “But you didn’t…”

                “Yeah, I forgot…” Moon shrugged as she replied, handing the papers to Lillie. The blonde began flipping through them almost immediately. “Wanna do homework with us?” Moon asked Gladion, “It might help take your mind off some of this…”

                “I guess…”

                Lillie was on the couch, Gladion was leaning against the bottom of the couch, and Moon was sitting criss-cross on the rug. Random folders and papers were strewn around them in what looked like a mini hurricane. Meowth had claimed a wad of crumpled paper, courtesy of Moon, and was playing with it.

                “Gladion, what’s this word mean?” Moon asked, pointing to her paper and leaning forward to show him.

                After squinting at the page, he said, “It basically means fancy. Grand. Glorious. That kind of thing…”

                “Then why don’t they just say that?” Moon huffed, scribbling out an answer to the question. She kept sticking her tongue out as she wrote and erased and re-wrote over again.

                “Ey, Lickitung,” Gladion taunted, the end of his pencil poking into Moon’s tongue, “Having fun there?”

                Moon blew a raspberry at him and continued her homework. It took her longer than she would like to admit. Lillie and Gladion were both done by the time she finished. Gladion was even offering little tidbits of information to help her.

                Lillie was looking at the photos her mother had hanging on the wall near the television. “Are these you as a baby?” she asked, pointing at a couple pictures of two young people with a tiny, chubby baby in their arms.

                “Yeah, that’s me,” Moon replied, not looking up from her papers.

                Gladion got up with a snicker. “Oh, now these I have to see.”

                Hearing him chortling, Moon said, “Hey, don’t you stand there and laugh. Lots of people are fat babies. Babies are supposed to be fat.”

                “Yeah, but look at you! You’re as round as a Marill!” Gladion was laughing and pointing at baby Moon. Lillie was hitting his arms and telling him to stop being mean, but he wasn’t listening. He was just smirking at Moon.

                Scowling, Moon said, “Well I’m not now! Fat helps babies grow!”

                “Didn’t do much good for you. You’re still puny.”

                “Gladion!” Lillie huffed at him and hit his arm again. “Moon is doing a lot for us! The least you could do is be nice to her!”

                He rolled his eyes. “Aw, come on, Lils. She knows I’m just teasing.”

                “It’s still mean,” Lillie snipped.

                “I don’t really mind,” Moon said, “But eventually I’m gonna get you back for this. I hope you realize that.” Gladion’s grin as she said that would have looked menacing if Moon’s own grin wasn’t just as bad.

                “You both are horrible,” Lillie said, walking away to look at other things.

                As he stood looking at the baby pictures, Gladion made a comment. “You guys know we could have left our homework for the rest of the weekend right?”

                Moon was ready for that one, though. She hopped to her feet and waltzed over to his side. “It was a better idea to get it out of the way now. We all kind of have a lot on our minds, after all…” Gladion nodded slowly at that.

                Lillie rejoined them by their sides and gave her brother a small hug. “This is going to be the first weekend we didn’t get to have our lessons.”

                “Lessons?” Moon looked between their faces, back and forth, curious.

                “Our mother used to insist that on top of our normal education at the school we take private lessons at home in various things…” Gladion explained.

                Moon was still curious. “Like what?”

                “Piano, violin, extra maths and sciences. Like, at least four extra of each… Uh…” He razzed as he thought more. “A couple languages, business lessons, and financing.”

                “She made you learn about financing?”

                “She wanted us to take over the family business once we were old enough,” Lillie said, “She thought we should start early and be prepared.” Moon made a face at that and Lillie nodded. “I know. It wasn’t very much fun when we were six, but she thought it was important.”

                “Six?” Moon repeated, “That sounds awful.”

                “It was.”

                “It wasn’t that bad, Gladion,” Lillie scolded, giving her brother a stern look.

                Gladion looked at Moon and mouthed the word ‘sucked.’ Moon hummed and smiled at that. She walked away from them after that and went to the little kitchen. Maybe she would surprise her mother by having dinner ready when she got home.

                “Oooh, are you going to cook?” Lillie asked, abandoning her hold on her brother. Moon nodded. “Can I help?”

                “Sure,” Moon said, “Start by getting the rice out.” She paused as she set up the cutting board. “Gladion? You gonna help?”

                “Are you asking or are you telling me to help?”

                “Just get over here,” Moon said.

                When she got home, Moon’s mother poked her head inside and called out, “Kids?”

                “We’re all here, mom!” Moon called back, “You can come in.”

                “Phew,” her mother exhaled, “I was worrying all day that somebody took you.” She set her bag down and paused to sniff the air. “Did you make dinner?”

                “Stir fry!” Moon said. “Gladion and Lillie helped!”

                “They made me.”

                “Shut up, Gladion.”

                Moon’s mother chuckled at their banter. “Aw, you three didn’t have to do that. I know you’ve probably got a lot on your minds.”

                “That’s exactly why we did it. Give us something to focus on besides all the shit going on.” Lillie whacked Moon for swearing, but Moon only grinned in response.

                “So what did you end up doing today?” Moon’s mom asked as they sat and ate a little while later.

                “Gladion went to school with me and Lillie stayed home,” Moon answered before shoving food into her mouth.

                “I baked Malasadas,” Lillie said, smiling. “If you want, you can have one.”

                “I’d like that.”

                Gladion fiddled with his cup. “I had expected someone who works for my mother to show up at the school and try to collect us… But no one did.” His voice had an edge to it, betraying how angry he felt about that. “She didn’t even bother trying to find us…”


	30. Gone All Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to post for New Years. Enjoy!
> 
>  
> 
> :)
> 
> this one was fun to write.  
> Gladion's a butthead.

                “Do you think Hau’s gonna cry?” Moon asked as she stuffed popcorn in her face. It was still only Sunday, but the pending school week was on all their minds.

                “Probably,” Gladion replied, reaching over and stealing from her bowl.

                Moon jumped back. “Hey! You have your own popcorn!”

                “Yeah, but it tastes better when you take it from someone else,” he teased, grinning. Moon scowled at him.

                “You guys really think Hau is going to cry?” Lillie asked, looking at the two of them.

                “Yep,” Gladion said, “Seeing how he reacted to Moon being gone, he will be inconsolable when you come back.”

                Lillie’s cheeks went a bit pink. “He wouldn’t miss me that much…”

                “Oh, trust me Lils,” Moon said, adjusting how she was sitting so Gladion couldn’t reach her popcorn, “He looked like the world was ending that first day you weren’t there.” Lillie’s cheeks went even darker pink. “Better wear something waterproof. He’s probably going to cry like a waterfall.”

                “She’ll probably cry too,” Gladion said, nudging Moon with his elbow. “She’s such a softie. As soon as he starts the waterworks, she’ll join in.”

                “That’s mean!” Lillie puffed her cheeks and pushed her brother. “I’m not a softie!”

                “You so are,” Gladion teased back, grinning, “You’re about as tough as a Jumpluff!” He leaned far forward and took another handful from Moon’s bowl.

                “Seriously?!” Moon shoved his shoulder. “You’re such a thief!”

                Moon’s mother chuckled at them. She was walking from her bedroom to the bathroom and happened to see what was going on. “You seem like you’re in good spirits,” she said.

                “We haven’t heard anything from our mother or the police all weekend,” Lillie said, “It almost makes you forget anything is happening.”

                “Almost,” Gladion said. “Honestly, I don’t know if I’m happy or angry that we haven’t heard anything.”

                “With you? Angry.” Moon snickered. He frowned at her and she purposely fluttered her eyelashes. That made him roll his eyes. “I just hope nothing too bad happens this week.”

                “Now you’ve jinxed it.”

                “Shut up, Gladion.”

                Going to sleep that night was difficult for Moon. She was worried about Gladion being right. If someone came to take them away she wasn’t sure what she would do. She was only one person. And she only had two Pokemon… Now she sat up. Maybe she could do something about that last part.

                Hours later, at about two in the morning, Moon came back home. “Where have you been?” The voice startled her so much that Moon actually tripped over herself and fell to the floor.

                As she sat there rubbing her lower back and butt, Gladion came to her side. “You okay?” he asked, offering her a hand.

                Moon smacked his hand away. “I’m fine. No thanks to you.”

                “Oh, forgive me for being concerned for your well-being.”

                She set a scowl on him. “You’re the reason I fell in the first place!” she whined. He offered a hand again, and this time she took it, letting him help her up.

                “You’ve been gone all night,” Gladion said, “I just wanted to know where you went.”

                “I felt like going out, is that a problem?”

                “It is if you’re gone until two in the fucking morning,” Gladion said, holding her arm and steadying her as she tugged off her shoes.

                Moon rolled her eyes. “I was looking for a couple Pokemon,” she said.

                “Pokemon hunting?” Gladion raised his eyebrows at her, “That’s what kept you outside for five hours?”

                “Yes.” And she pushed away and walked toward her room. She stopped in her doorway and looked back at him. “You’re not staying up are you?” He stood right where she left him for a moment before looking down, shaking his head with a laugh, and beginning to walk toward the couch. “That’s not the guest room, Gladion.” He didn’t respond, just plopped himself down on the couch and leaned back. “Gladion… Gladion.” Still no reply. Finally, giving up, Moon said goodnight and went to bed.

                The next morning was quiet. The three of them got ready in silence, ate in silence, and walked in silence. Maybe it was the strain of everything going on, or the thought that someone might finally show up to get Gladion and Lillie, but none of them seemed in the mood to talk. They walked in their little group, at least, but still didn’t talk.

                “Mornin’ sunshine,” Sun teased when Moon got to her locker. She only made a grunting noise in reply. “So, the twins are back, I see.”

                Moon snorted. “Twins? Back on that, Sun?”

                He grinned at her, sticking his tongue out between his teeth. “Come on, when we first introduced you to Gladion, what did we say?”

                “That he could be Lillie’s twin if he wasn’t taller and older, I know,” Moon replied, shaking her head with a smile on her face. “I just never thought you actually called them twins…”

                “Eh, every now and then it’s fun to shake the nicknames up.”

                The two walked to English together and Sun commented, “You know Hau is gonna flip his shit when he sees Lillie is back.”

                “Don’t remind me,” Moon said, “It’s going to be an interesting Home Ec class.”

                Lillie bumped into them just before getting to the door and she greeted Sun with a big smile. She offered him one of the homemade Malasadas she made. She offered one to Moon as well, but Moon said she would rather save them for Hau. Lana took one when Lillie offered and she and Sun looked very happy all through class.

                For their newest English assignment they were all going to have to write a one page poem. There were more than a few complaints at it.

                “I hate writing!” Sun whined as they left, “Even more when I have to rhyme!”

                Lillie patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t be sad, Sun! Poetry can be fun!”

                “Now I hate you too!”

                Surprisingly enough, their group ran into Gladion while they walked. When they said hello to him, though, he hardly did more than glance at them.

                “Oh boy,” Sun said, “Edgy’s in one of his moods.”

                “Moods?” Lillie looked shocked by Sun saying that. She had actually stopped walking for a moment, she was so surprised.

                “Yeah, moods. You know how there are days he doesn’t talk to anybody and is mad at the whole world?”

                Lillie pouted. “He’s not very sociable, I grant you, but calling it a mood seems kinda mean…”

                “It’s pretty fitting, though,” Moon piped up, “I’ve only known him for what, two months? And even I’ve noticed he gets like this every now and then…” She muttered to herself after that and said, “Of course, a couple of times I made him angrier by trying to help, but whatever…”

                “I think it would be best to avoid Gladion today,” Lana advised Moon once they were alone. The walk to Breeding was a little tense, but not too bad. At least Moon didn’t have to deal with possibly upsetting Gladion even more.

                Moon huffed at that. “I have gym and battle tactics with him, that’s gonna be kinda hard…”

                “You could always give him the silent treatment back,” Lana said, “Give him a taste of his own medicine?” She actually pulled out a bottle of cold medicine after saying that, and Moon had to resist every urge to ask why she had that. She knew Lana probably wanted her to ask. She was not taking the bait.

                She took it hook line and sinker, though, when Lana opened the cap and drank straight from the bottle. “What the fuck are you doing?”

                Lana, after swallowing and almost choking, laughed for a solid three minutes. “My twin sisters stole my favorite water bottles and hid them, so I’ve been using this for now.”

                Moon blinked in silence for a few moments before saying, “You’re terrifying.” Lana laughed all the way to the classroom. Mallow and Kiawe couldn’t even ask why, she was laughing so hard. So they said hello to Moon instead.

                “Feeling better?” Moon asked Kiawe.

                He nodded. “Yeah but I wouldn’t hang around me too much… It could still be lingering.”

                “Yuck.”

                Two other groups’ eggs hatched since yesterday. Both were Eevees. They were tiny little balls of fluff and the whole class cooed over them for half an hour.

                “Leafeon is my favorite Eeveelution,” Mallow said to Moon as they walked to Home Ec.

                “Not surprising,” Moon said, smirking, “You are the plant lady, after all.”

                Huffing, Mallow asked, “Well what’s your favorite?”

                “Mmmm….” Moon hummed as she thought. “Well, most people back in Kanto that I knew had Vaporeons… But I’ve always liked Umbreon the best.”

                “The Moon evolution!? And you’re making fun of me!?”

                When they got to Home Ec, Mallow of course posed the question to Hau and he was about to answer until Lillie came in. All words left him as he ran to squeeze her in a giant hug. He was babbling nonsense and wouldn’t let go.

                “Hau! Hau, please!” Lillie wriggled and squirmed, trying desperately to get out of his grip. “Hau, I can hardly breathe!”

                “I thought you were gonna be sick forever!” Hau wailed, holding her even tighter. “Don’t ever get sick again!”

                “Hau! Hau! Ack!” As Lillie shouted, Moon was sure she heard the sound of her back cracking. She winced a little. “I have something for you, Hau!” That got him to loosen up and let her move enough to get to her bag. Reaching in, she pulled out a neatly wrapped treat and said, “I made some homemade Malasadas when I was feeling a little better. I brought you one.”

                The noise Hau made next could only be described as something akin to a Stufful screaming. He lifted Lillie up and spun her in a circle, laughing and bouncing. It took Mallow and Moon all their strength to hold him still.

                When he finally set her down, Hau looked like he was sick. Bright red nose, tears coming from his eyes, the works. A few hiccups and sniffles later and Hau was happily sitting in his desk, eating his Malasada and holding Lillie’s hand. The lesson today involved reading sections of their books to start a new unit. Moon was pretty sure Hau wasn’t doing any reading whatsoever. He looked so happy, though.

                “How ya holdin’ up Lillie?” Mallow asked once they finally got up to leave.

                Lillie was flexing and rubbing her fingers with a pained look on her face. “I can’t feel my hand,” she whimpered. But when Hau gave her another hug, she smiled anyway and assured him she was fine for the seventh time. He took the hand that she had just been rubbing and walked down the hall with her like that.

                “This is the cutest shit I have ever seen,” Moon whispered to herself, watching the happy boy swing their joined arms as they walked. Every now and then he kept looking at Lillie to smile at her. Moon could physically feel the joy and happiness radiating off of him. Nothing could make Hau sad today. Nothing.

                When Sophocles saw them he actually pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. The only ones who laughed were Sun and Moon, but they laughed loud enough for Molayne to come from his office and ask what was so funny.

                “So, at least Hau will be too distracted by Lillie to cheat off my test at least,” Sophocles said, taking the glasses back off.

                “Dude,” Sun smacked him on the back, “You’re one of my favorite fuckin’ people ever. Arceus, I wish I had sunglasses. I would’ve made that same damn joke.” The two of them ended up making jokes about how bright and happy Hau was the entire class. It was the most Moon had ever heard Sophocles not be serious. At one point he actually said that Hau was single handedly turning the solar system into one with two Suns and Moon actually snorted at that.

                As they walked to lunch, Moon remembered the question Mallow had asked. “Oh, hey guys,” she called their attention. “Which Eeveelution is your favorite?”

                “Vaporeon!” Hau answered almost instantly, with a big grin on his face. He still had a death grip on Lillie’s hand, but looked happy as all heck.

                “I kinda like Flareon,” Sun answered, “But I like Jolteon too… I don’t know if I have a favorite.”

                Lillie didn’t have to think long before saying Sylveon. And Sophocles, unsurprisingly, picked Jolteon.

                “How about you Moon?” Sun asked, nudging her, “I bet your favorite is Umbreon, right?”

                “Actually it is…” Moon replied, face blank. Sun of course found that hilarious and smacked her shoulder while he laughed.

                “Oh, Gladion has an Umbreon!” Lillie said, smiling at Moon.

                “He does?” When Lillie nodded, Moon frowned. “I had no idea…”

                “He usually likes to use Type:Null in battles more than Umbreon,” Lillie said, “He hardly ever let me see Null, but when he did he would tell me they needed to work together more than any other Pokemon he had.”

                Moon frowned harder. “Does he have any other Pokemon that he never talks about?”

                “He had a Rockruff at that festival a few years back,” Sun said.

                “Oh, yes, his Lycanroc!” Lillie exclaimed, “I had forgotten about him. He’s very friendly.”

                “Geeze, you think you know a guy…” Moon huffed and got in line to get her lunch. She had been reaching for a nice looking sandwich when some girl grabbed it. She ended up getting soup. She sat next to Acerola at the table, all the way on the end. Acerola asked if they could swap drinks because apparently she really wanted that specific container of Pinap juice. Moon didn’t question it, just handed it over.

                After almost everyone was seated, Moon posed the Eevee question to the rest of them. Kiawe picked Flareon, shocker shocker, Lana picked Vaporeon, Mina picked Sylveon, Ilima picked Espeon, and Acerola picked Umbreon.

                “I wish there was a ghost type Eevelution, but Umbreon is the next best thing,” she said, smiling her strange cat like smile.

                Ten minutes passed by and it became obvious Gladion wasn’t coming to lunch. Lillie seemed upset by it, and she looked to Moon for help, but Moon only shrugged and said “He’s your brother.” Moon imagined he was still stressed about what was going on with his mother. Maybe he was mad at her. Maybe he was mad at everyone. She wanted to ask but she was tired of making the wrong decision, or getting shoved back to square one every time she made progress because of someone else. A quick glance at Ilima and the reminder that Gladion would come when he was ready and Moon was able to focus on the group discussions.

                Art was another sketching day. Moon couldn’t seem to do any of it right. Her sketches of the fruit displays looked like a mess. Her sketches of random objects looked like blobs. It was just all bad. She felt better though, because Lana and Sophocles both were having the same problem.

                Moon got bumped while she was changing in the locker room for gym. At least, she thought she was bumped. She didn’t see what happened, she just suddenly fell forward, slamming her head into her locker and knocking her knees into the ground. She stayed still for a moment after falling and sat there in pain. With a groan, she pushed herself back up and kicked her locker shut. It felt like something wet was on her face, so Moon went to look in the bathroom mirrors. Sure enough, she had a big cut on her head from where she hit the hinge. It honestly looked like a dent with a rip in it. Another groan, and Moon grabbed some paper towels before going to ask the teacher if she could go to the nurse.

                “What the hell happened to you?” her professor asked before she even reached him.

                Pulling the paper towel away from her forehead, Moon replied, “Somebody bumped me while I was pulling my shoes on and I fell into my locker… Can I go to the nurse?”

                “Yeah, yeah, of course, Arceus…” He pulled out his notepad and quickly began scribbling her a hallpass. “You probably should have someone walk with you, in case you really got hurt.”

                “I can take her.”

                Moon turned to look at the voice she heard. “Hey, Gladion.” The professor handed her the pass and the two of them walked out into the hall.

                “You look like shit,” Gladion commented.

                “Oh, finally talking to me?” Moon asked, more than a little irritated.

                Gladion scowled. “Fuck you too,” he snapped, “Next time I’ll let somebody else walk you.”

                With a huff, Moon turned, stopped walking, and pushed her free hand directly into the center of his chest. He stumbled back a couple steps at the blockade.

                “Do you want my help or not?” Moon asked, feeling completely exasperated. “Why are you so damn frustrating? You don’t fucking talk to me all morning, you skip lunch so you don’t have to see me, and the first fucking thing you say to me is that I look like shit!? And, and what you expect I’m not going to be confused and mad?” She shoved him again, making him stumble back further. “This is how Lillie feels! We’ve both told you that when you don’t tell us things we don’t know how to help you! If you’re mad at me, just tell me why! I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m not a mindreader! What!? What did I do to you!?”

                After one final shove to his chest, Gladion straightened out. “What did you do?” he barked back at her, “You fucking left in the middle of the night, didn’t tell anyone why or where you would be, how long you’d be gone, or anything! You were gone for hours! I thought my fucking mother had been waiting to get you alone and had kidnapped you! That’s what you fucking did!” He was practically screaming now at the end.

                Moon took a step back away from him. Slowly she lowered the paper towel from her forehead. She saw him glance at the wound, but his gaze quickly returned to her face. “Shit…” she felt like her voice was gone. “Gladion, I… I am so sorry… I didn’t even think about…”

                “And- and then!” Gladion huffed, stepping closer to her again, “And then to find out you just felt like going out to catch a new Pokemon!?”

                Tears were pricking the edges of her eyes, but Moon managed to get right back up in his face. “I did that for you!” she shouted. Now he backed off, blinking in surprise and confusion. “I… I only had two Pokemon… I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to help you if something went wrong…” Moon used the slightly blood paper to wipe at her eyes. “You and Lillie both seemed so scared, and it was scaring me. I don’t know how strong your mom is, or what the people who work for her are like and I just… I… I was scared…”

                Gladion stared at Moon after that. Just stared. He didn’t move, he didn’t speak, he didn’t even blink. His mouth opened and closed a few times and then he looked down to the floor. His brows were furrowed together and his cheeks were pink. Moon could see him chewing on his lower lip.

                Finally he found his voice. Soft and only a whisper, but Gladion said, “Sorry…”


	31. Alolan Grimer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I do like the canon of Moon liking Poison types from the Specials. :)

                The nurse had teased Moon for getting hurt again during gym, asking her if she was doing it purposely to get out of the class. Moon laughed at her. “Believe me, if I were doing that, I would just skip. I wouldn’t be doing stuff like this to myself…” She was given a choice between getting a bandage with a cute Pikachu on it or one with a Bulbasaur. The nurse said the new order of bandages hadn’t come in yet, so those were her only options. She picked the Bulbasaur.

                She and Gladion walked slowly back to the gymnasium. “So… what did you catch anyway?” Gladion asked, hands in his pockets.

                “A Grimer,” Moon answered. He made a little face at her. “I just think the ones here in Alola are neat.”

                “Well…” He took one hand out and brushed his hair back for a moment. “I’m sorry Lillie and I got you so scared…”

                “It’s okay… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys where I was going… I thought you were asleep…”

                Gladion kicked at the ground as they walked. “I actually woke up because the police station called to let me know they found us a lawyer.”

                “At like midnight?”

                “Eleven forty two,” Gladion replied, smirking.

                “Ah, yes, of course. That’s much more reasonable.” Moon chuckled with him at the joke. After the giggles had died down, Moon spoke again. “SO Lillie said you have an Umbreon, huh?”

                “Hm? Oh, yeah. I raised ‘er from an Eevee that got hurt…” Moon nodded with a little smile and he offered, “Maybe later you can meet her.”

                “And you can meet Grimer.”

                The guys fussed over Moon when they got back. Each of them were super worried about her cut. Her head was already starting to bruise, but Moon said it was better than it could have been since the Chansey at the nurse’s office used Heal Pulse on it. Because they were gone so long the groups had been set up, so they had to sit out for a couple of dances before the professor had them all pair off to begin learning waltzes. Moon got Gladion as her partner since they were already sitting together.

                “I fucking hate waltzing,” Gladion said as he and Moon stood in the pose.

                “Oh, have you done it before for class?” Moon asked.

                Gladion rolled his eyes. “Well, yeah, but besides just that. My mother used to have fancy events all the time. Fundraisers and mixers. Lillie and I had to be proper little children and she made us learn all the etiquette and all the dances. She didn’t want us making any of her donors uncomfortable. Quite a few of them were less than fond of children.”

                Moon grimaced. “That sounds like hell.”

                “Honestly, you have no idea how nice it is so be able to sit at your house and throw popcorn at each other.”

                “Yeah, I’m still mad about that, you ass.”

                Ilima was walking with Moon after gym. He had linked arms with her and was discussing the dancing. “You and Gladion looked like you were having fun,” he said, smiling at her in the way that made Moon want to clutch her heart.

                “Yeah, we were making jokes,” Moon said.

                “Jokes are good,” he said, “It shows how close you are. You’ve come a long way since your first meeting.”

                Moon thought to herself, “You have no idea.”

                “Seriously, Moon, love the Bulbasaur,” Sun teased, patting her on the back before hurrying down the hallway.

                “You’re just jealous!” Moon shouted after him.

                Kiawe laughed from beside Ilima. “You two are like siblings,” he said.

                Moon shuddered. “If I had those genes running in my family I would be so afraid for my children.”

                “I would elect to be celibate,” Gladion said. Moon hadn’t heard him catch up to the rest of the group, but she appreciated the comment. She agreed with him and the group had a good laugh.

                When they got to battle tactics, Nanu told everyone he didn’t feel like doing anything today. “Honestly, how ‘bout we all just take this time for a nap? Would anyone object to that?”

                “Uncle Nanu!” Acerola scolded, “You can’t just use this class to catch up on the sleep you missed!”

                Face flat, Nanu replied, “You sleep with eight Meowth and you tell me how easy it is… Seriously, anyone else have any complaints? I’m takin’ a nap.”

                No one else complained, so everyone either rested against a wall or grouped up to chat. Mina joined Moon and the guys and asked if they were going to sleep.

                “I don’t think I could if I tried,” Kiawe said.

                Ilima nodded. “Same here. It’s too early for me to sleep.”

                “Psh,” Moon rolled her eyes, “Losers. I can sleep whenever and wherever.”

                “Same,” Gladion said. To prove his point, he pulled up his hood to hide the light and leaned back against the wall for a nap.

                “Oh, so guys, I forgot to mention, I caught a new Pokémon the other day.”

                “Really? What kind?” Mina was leaning a little too far forward as she asked, but Moon answered her anyway.

                “Grimer.” She had a big smile on her face as she spoke.

                The only one who looked happy to hear that was Acerola. “Ah! Really? They’re wonderful, aren’t they!?”

                Moon nodded, still smiling. “I think the Alolan ones are so cool. They’re so much prettier than the ones back in Kanto.”

                “They’re not exactly pretty here either,” Kiawe said, looking confused. “You really like how they look, Moon?”

                “I really am hoping to evolve it. The Muk are so colorful and pretty here.”

                “You are so weird,” Gladion mumbled from his spot against the wall.

                Ilima smiled though and placed a hand on Moon’s knee. “They are certainly colorful, I agree. And they are very useful around here. They help keep our lovely Alola nice and clean.”

                “That’s true,” Kiawe said, “But I don’t really see how they’re pretty…”

                Acerola waved him off. “I’m sure it’s a lovely Grimer, just like my Mimikyu is lovely.”

                Class was nice and peaceful after that point. Nanu was so sound asleep that he almost looked dead. Acerola pointed out that he looked dead. Loudly.

                Kiawe helped Moon to her feet once class ended. The bell woke up quite a few of the kids in class. “Excited that it’s almost the weekend?” he asked.

                “It’s only Thursday tomorrow,” Moon replied, looking confused.

                “Yeah, but that’s one day closer to the weekend.”

                “You’re dancing this weekend, aren’t you?” Moon folded her arms across her chest and smirked up at him. She saw his cheeks darken and he reached around to rub the back of his neck.

                “Yeahh,” he admitted.

                She gave him a couple pats on the arm and said, “You’ll do great, bud.”

                When he and the others had left the room and it was just Moon, Gladion, and the still sleeping Nanu left, Gladion nudged her with his elbow. “You done flirting?” he teased, smirking.

                “Oh, shut up,” Moon snipped back, elbowing him as well.

                “So I got a call earlier,” Gladion said.

                “The lawyer thing?”

                He nodded. “Yeah, they called while I was skipping lunch, actually. They want to sit down and meet with me and Lils.” He tucked his hands into his pockets and sighed. “Not really looking forward to telling Lillie.”

                “How come?” The two of them started walking down the hall together, heading for Gladion’s locker first.

                He rolled his shoulders. “I don’t want to upset her…”

                “She wants you to keep her in the loop, though, so you gotta,” Moon said, leaning against the locker next to his once it was free. Gladion was pushing books around, reaching far into his locker to pull out a couple folders. All of them were red. Moon made a face at that, but didn’t say anything. She had already determined Gladion was weird. “She’ll probably be happy to hear you have a lawyer. It means you at least have someone on your side.”

                Gladion paused. “You’re on our side,” he said, “You and your mom.”

                Moon rolled her eyes and said, “Well, yeah, but we don’t have any power with law and shit.”

                After tucking his stuff into his bag, Gladion slammed his locker shut. Moon flinched the noise it made was so loud.

                Moon gathered up her things from her locker and as she did, Lillie came to join the two of them. “You two gonna walk out together and we’ll just meet up at the house?”

                “Sure.” Gladion turned, ready to leave, when Hau rushed over and scooped Lillie up in a hug.

                “Goodbye!! I’ll see you tomorrow, okay Lillie!?!” Hau was shouting as he hugged her. “Don’t get sick!!”

                Gladion pushed down on Hau’s arms and pulled Lillie from his grip. “Yes, yes, she’ll go eat some immune boosters right now. Enough of the hugging.”

                “I just missed her so much!!!!!” Hau wailed, waving his hands up and down. Gladion simply responded by turning Hau around and sliding him across the floor by pushing his back. Moon couldn’t hold back a few laughs at watching the blond sliding the Sunshine Bomb out the front doors.

                Lillie sighed, shook her head, smiled at Moon, and took off after them.


	32. Stop it, Moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so I know this chapter is really short but I'm probably gonna have very limited internet all next week so I wanted to post this now to make up for that.

                Meowth wouldn’t let up in getting in the way of the three teens while they tried to do homework. Moon was pretty sure she knew they were trying to do stuff and was doing it to spite them.

                Gladion had told Lillie about the lawyer thing and of course at first she looked nervous, but she seemed to relax pretty quickly. She asked Moon if she would go with them. “What if they don’t let me come in with you?” Moon had asked.

                “You’ll be our emotional support,” Gladion said, “That’s what we tell them. Maybe if they ask we explain how we’re living with you while this goes on.”

                Moon nodded after that. “Sounds good… I’m assuming we’re going after school?”

                “Nah, right in the middle of the day.”

                Lillie whacked her brother on the shoulder for that. “That’s not funny!” she scolded.

                He shrugged and smirked. “I thought it was pretty funny,” he said with a bit of a snicker.

                “Well you have a terrible sense of humor!”

                Gladion made a ‘humph’ noise and said, “That’s your opinion. Moon thinks I’m hilarious, right Moon?” Moon, in response, looked up at him with an over exaggerated confused face asking him what the question was. He tossed an eraser at her.

                “Seriously, though,” he said after clearing his throat and tossing his notebook off to the side, “They probably will want to know a little bit about you, Moon. Your ‘relationship’ to us and whatever.” He waved his hands as he said the word relationship, shaking them like Jazz hands.

                “Ooohhh, relationship, huh?” Moon smirked and waggled her eyebrows. “Well we wouldn’t want them to know I’m dating both of you now would we?”

                When Moon said that, Lillie turned bright pink and shrieked at her, grabbing a pillow off the couch, and threw it at her. Gladion went red in the face and looked down at the ground. Lillie whacked at her over and over again with the pillow, telling her that wasn’t funny or appropriate. “You do not tell them that!” she squealed, “Moon, you do NOT!” When Moon just cackled she ended up tackling her.

                “Oh no!” Moon reached a hand far out and shouted, “Gladion! Help!”

                Gladion simply sat and watched her being attacked. “Nah, I’m good.” Moon snatched her hand back close to her heart and made a noise like a dying Pokemon. He just smiled and shook his head at her dramatics. “You’re so weird.”

                “But you love me!” Moon had a shit eating grin. “You and Lillie both love me!”

               

**Author's Note:**

> I'll update when I can, but I can't make daily promises or anything like that.


End file.
